Some 250 volunteers are taking part in the collection, among them actress Maja Komorowska, actors Damian Damięcki and Olgierd Łukaszewicz who have been with the initiative since its beginning in 1975.
Each volunteer has an official armband and a collecting tin labelled "Ratujemy Zabytki Powązek".
A special collecting box has been mounted in the Avenue of Catacombs at the tomb of music critic and author Jerzy Waldorff, the organizer of the collection.
Over the years, the funds raised have been used to renovate dozens of tombstones, graves and monuments in Old Powązki.
This year also, representatives of the Social Committee for the Care of Old Powązki and the city authorities have announced that they will be asking for signatures to a bid to enter the “All Souls’ Collection” on the national list of intangible heritage.
As Aldona Machnowska-Góra, deputy mayor of Warsaw underlined, the monuments at Old Powązki are among the few in the capital that survived the Second World War. Marcin Święcicki, who currently heads the Social Committee for the Care of Old Powązki informed Polish Press Agency PAP that in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been possible to realize the conservation plan on a similar level as in previous years, with restoration completed of another 17 tombs.
The collection continues through the weekend, and on November 1. For the second year running, it is also possible to donate on-line via the link zrzutka.pl/kwesta
Source: PAP/IAR