The City Cemetery of Zadar was established in 1820. The first burial dates back to 1821 and the oldest preserved grave stone comes from the year of 1822.
Basic data
The City Cemetery of Zadar is owned by the City of Zadar and
managed by T.D. Nasadi d.o.o.
It is a landscape, religious cemetery. The prevalent religions present in the cemetery are Catholics and Orthodox, but in recent years also Muslims are buried there. Most deceased are Croats, Serbs and Bosnians. In the past, one part of the cemetery was Jewish, but after World War II it has changed owners.
The area of the cemetery occupies about 11 hectartes, devided into 10 areas and every area is divided by grave fields. It includes about 7.000 tombs and about 1.500 ground burials but the number is increasing since the cemetery is still expanding, following the development of the city.
Architecture on the cemetery
There are
two chapels in the cemetery - Catholics and Ortodox. The Chatolic chapel was constructed in 1866. It has arcades to its left and right and also some graves inside the chapel. The Ortodox chapel on the other hand was built in 1910 by civil engineer Anton Matezenik.
In 1934, the cemetery was expanded for the first time. At this time the
structures near the entrance were constructed as well as the
facade which exists unchanged to this days. It's called the New Cemetery B.
One of the attractions at the cemetery is also the
ancient Roman aqueduct, built in the 2nd century in the time of Roman emperor Trajan, that delivered water from Lake Vrana to the city.
Important graves and monuments
The oldest part of the cemetery has some
valuable and lovely memorial plates and gravestones and some of them were created by famous Croatian sculptor Ivan Rendić, who worked on well known monuments in Croatia, including in other Croatian cemeteries.
Some important tombs in the cemetery are the
tomb Borelli, tomb Vlahov, tomb Abelich, tomb Tomassich and others.
Some famous people buried in the cemetery are:
- Ante Brkan (died in 2004) - the most important photographer in Zadar. He marked the emergence of the Modern Croatian photography.
- Zvonimir Brkan (died in 1979) - together with his brother Ante Brkan is among the most important Croatian photographers. He has had about 230 photo exhibitions around the world.
- Giuseppe Ferrari Cupilli (died in 1865) - writer and cultural historian. He wrote plays, poems, translations and other contributions to the cultural history of Zadar and Dalmatia.
- Tomaso Burato (died in 1910) - carried the title of Imperial and Royal court photographer. He was called “maestro photo elegance”.
- Blagoje Bersa (died in 1934) - was a Croatian musical composer. He set the foundations of modern archestar style in Croatia, introduced into the opera realistic subject matter.
- Jospi Bersa (died in 1932) - Croatia writer and archaeologist, also a conservator and the director of Archaeological Museum. It was the author of numerous studies on the archaeological sites of Dalmatia.
- Don Ivo Prodan (died in 1933) - Roman Catholic professor, writer and journalist. He established and opened the Catholic Croat printing office.
- Josip Brčić (died in 1895) - the pharmacist who was the first full time photographer. Also he opened the first photographic studio.
- Ivan Brčić (died in 1870) - the catechist and teacher of Croatian language. His Glagolitic „Chrestomathia“ in 1859 is the first publication in 19th century.
Preservation and conservation
From 1974, the oldest section of the cemetery (incorrectly referred to as New Cemetery A) is under the protection of
State Directorate for Cultural Heritage Protection. Also the
Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments protects the oldest part of the cemetery that date back to the 19th century.
The tombs in the cemetery are divided into four categories, according to their value, beauty and importance to the families that created them. The most significant category 1 includes the most important tombs. Nothing regarding their original appearance can be changed.
