Wartogłowiec Municipal Cemetery in Tychy

Wartogłowiec Municipal Cemetery is an active necropolis in the northern part of Tychy, regarded as the first and largest municipal cemetery in the city. Besides its burial function it has one distinctive feature: a modernist fence of concrete shells.

The fence from 1961

The fence was designed by the architect Marek Dziekoński and made in 1961 from prefabricated reinforced concrete segments with rounded shapes, about 5 cm thick. In 1962 the design won first prize from the Katowice branch of the Association of Polish Architects. The fence is not entered in the heritage register, but it is regarded as an element of Tychy's cultural heritage and has been renovated in agreement with the city's conservator of monuments: some segments were restored and some recreated to the original pattern.

The necropolis

According to available information the cemetery was founded in 1973 and expanded together with the city. It has a cemetery chapel, and in the north-western part there is a columbarium of 12 modules with 1,152 urn niches in total. Buried here are, among others, the Dżem band vocalist Ryszard Riedel, the Helsinki Olympian Elżbieta Bocian-Wagner and eight victims of the avalanche at Rysy of 28 January 2003. The cemetery is managed by the Tychy Municipal Services Company.

Practical information

• Address: Cmentarna 19 in Wartogłowiec (a district of Tychy).
• This is an active cemetery: keep calm and show respect for people visiting graves. Check the rules of entry and the hours before your visit with the Tychy City Office or the manager.
• The City Office runs a search tool for buried persons and a map of the cemetery.
• In the Tychy area you can also see the Tychy Municipal Museum.