Gradska opstina Palilula

Nis’s Old Cemetery, where burial was suspended half a century ago, got a new look. The growth and bushes have been cleared and now all the paths between the graves are passable, and unlike in previous years, every monument now can be approached. According to Bratislav Vuckovic, the president of Palilula Municipality, on which territory the Old Cemetery “Gorica” ​​is located, the lighting of this area will follow, and in the future, JKP “Mediana” will take care of this complex.

There are over 3,000 monuments in the Old Cemetery with the names of those who wrote the history of Nis. Among them are Atanasije Petrović – teacher Tasa, Stanko Vlasotinčanin, Nikola Rašić, Serdar, Jole Piletić and many others, poets, freedom fighters, industrialists. The cemetery was often targeted by art thieves, who took away Studin’s “Angel with a Lyre” and Augustinčić’s “Prelja”.

“We started arranging the Old Cemetery in October last year. Our idea was to do as much as possible with as little money as possible. We hired people through the Center for Social Work, and then it expanded, so some associations and non-governmental organizations came to our aid. Everything was supported by JKP “Mediana”. The last phase of cleaning was just before the New Year, and a lot of things were done in ten days “, says Bratislav Vuckovic.

The fact that over 300 trucks of shrubs and waste were removed from this area to the landfill also testifies to the fact that there was an abundance of work.

“Rough work has been done. Now it remains to install the lighting. This will be done by the association – Work Action Delijski Vis, for which 500,000 dinars have been allocated. They will do it in the next ten days together with JKP “Parking service”. For this year, another million dinars have been set aside for the final works on the Old Cemetery that await us “, says Vuckovic. Vuckovic adds that the cemetery has now been cleaned in the entire area of ​​17 hectares, which has never been done before. “I am sorry that we cannot clean some half of the hectares because in that case, Gorička Street would collapse, but we will find a way to fix that part as well,” adds Vucković.

On this occasion, he called on the citizens to make the Old Cemetery even tidier.

“Every citizen whose ancestors were buried in this cemetery would have to take care of the monument. Thus, the project of arranging the Old Cemetery would become sustainable with their help. In addition, institutions bearing the name of a famous person buried there could It is inadmissible for the monuments like the monuments of Kole Rasic, Apel or Teacher Tasa to be in the condition they are in “, adds Vuckovic.

He emphasizes that another positive thing was born from the action of cleaning the Old Cemetery. For the first time in many years, the arrangement of the Old Cemetery was included in the regular program of its maintenance by JKP “Mediana”.

5 million dinars were set aside for that purpose, and I hope that the people from “Mediana” with that money will be able to maintain what has been done now, and in support of that is the fact that we are now, during these actions, completely supported “, concludes Vuckovic.

The city is ready to apply for foreign funds and domestic calls. We are ready to enter into cooperation with the cross-border municipalities of neighboring Bulgaria, in order to turn the old cemetery into a memorial complex, said the mayor of Nis, Dragana Sotirovski.

The city will also form a register of people buried in this cemetery, which in the future could be included in the city’s tourist offer because it is a witness to the history and culture of Nis and the region.