Permanent Bratislavans

Today between classes, I visited a huge cemetery, Ondrejský Cintorin, now a city park, two blocks from my classroom building. I understand that no new burials are allowed, although ample space appears to be available.

This entrance faces 29 Augusta Street.

European cemeteries are fascinating for the elegant and unusual statues and other grave markers, often hundreds of years old.

I was surprised that so many fresh flowers were placed on the graves, for persons deceased many decades ago.

Here's another striking marker.

And another.

As with other parks I visit here, a grounds crew keept the area spiffed up and attractive.

The Chapel of Saint Ondreja (Kaplnka vs. Ondreja) stands at the western side of the cemetery, by the main entrance to the cemetery.

A sign from the City provided a map of the grounds, with a list of distinguished permanent residents. I confess I did not recognize any of them.

Alexander Dubček, a Slovak westerners should remember, is buried in a small cemetery west of Bratislava. Dubček was the Communist leader of Czechoslovakia who tried to put a “human face” on socialism with progressive reforms. The Soviets rewarded his efforts in the “Prague Spring” of 1968 by rolling in tanks all across the nation, including both Prague and Bratislava, and shipping him off to the Soviet Union for re-education. The tanks and Soviet soldiers stayed for another two decades. Dubček stood with Václav Havel in 1989 in celebrating the fall of communism and was cheered as a hero.

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