Former Cemetery of Gorizia

A forgotten predecessor of Nova Gorica

The street where the brickworks once stood predates Nova Gorica and serves as the primary road connection to "Old Gorica." It is also the only street not aligned parallel or perpendicular to the border. Once narrower and lined with chestnut trees, it was called Cemetery Street because it led to the town's old cemetery, located on the site of today's new town centre.

The magnificent entrance was located at the crossroads next to the current Eda Centre (p. 50). The street is now called Erjavčeva, named after the writer and nature lover Fran Erjavec (1834–1887), who was initially buried in this cemetery.

The cemetery stretched all the way to the theatre and covered an area measuring 299 by 200 metres. It is said to have held as many as 28,000 people, twice the current population of the town.

The cemetery was opened in 1880, but even before construction began, scandals surrounded it, as the loamy soil was not suitable for burials. Additionally, the Koren Stream flooded several times, allowing sewage to flow into the town. However, these were not sufficient reasons for relocation. The cemetery was closed in 1916 when the Soča Front passed through, with no regard for the graves.

When the cemetery was relocated to its current location by the motorway at the border crossing, many graves were left behind as there were no relatives or family members to move them. During the construction of Nova Gorica and for many decades afterwards, these graves and tombstones were simply bulldozed, and the cemetery was forgotten.

Today, three gravestones remain in the town as a reminder of the cemetery; no one has moved them. One of these bears the name of Michael Hertlein, an Austrian soldier, and serves as a reminder of a time when Gorizia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The memory of the cemetery is now preserved by the gravestones of those who were once forgotten by everyone.

Avtor: Blaž Kosovel

Kraj: Nova Gorica

Vir:

Blaž Kosovel: Pozabljeni predhodnik Nove Gorice, Revija Razpotja, št. 22, zima 2015 (https://razpotja.si/razpotja_article/pozabljeni-predhodnik-nove-gorice/)

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