Powązki Cemetery

Warsaw

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Warsaw's most prestigious cemetery covers 43 hectares and contains the graves of well over a million souls. Illustrious Poles from all walks of life are buried here and a set of signs in Polish by the main gate lists the notables under their respective professions and areas of interest.

Here lies the grave of Nobel Prize winner for literature Władysław Reymont, the composer Stanisław Moniuszko, Chopin's piano teacher Józef Elsner and film director Krzysztof Kieślowski, among many others.

The cemetery is particularly atmospheric on and immediately after All Saints' Day when Varsovians visit family graves to clean them and leave wreaths, flowers and candles in coloured glass jars.

The main entrance is next to St Charles Borromeo Church.

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