More than 13,000 candles were lit on 1 November at Vilnius’s historic Rasos and Bernardine cemeteries as part of the annual “Light of Remembrance for Rasos and Bernardine Cemeteries” campaign, organised by the Social Committee for the Care of the Old Rasos Cemetery.
Among them were Poland’s chargé d’affaires in Vilnius, Grzegorz Marek Poznański, and consul Dariusz Wiśniewski, who joined local volunteers in lighting candles and laying flowers at the mausoleum of Marshal Józef Piłsudski, the Chapel of the January Uprising Insurgents, and the New Rasos Cemetery, where Polish soldiers who died in the 1919–1920 battles for Vilnius are buried.
Poland’s chargé d’affaires in Lithuania, Grzegorz Marek Poznański (second from right), and Consul Dariusz Wiśniewski (third from left) lay flowers and light candles at the mausoleum of Marshal Józef Piłsudski in Vilnius’s historic Rasos Cemetery on 1 November 2025 (photo: Valdemar Doveiko)
Founded in 1801, Rasos Cemetery is one of the most important Polish national necropolises outside the country’s borders. It is the resting place of insurgents, soldiers, artists and scholars linked to the history of Poland and the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In Vilnius, Lithuania, candles were lit and flowers were laid to commemorate All Saint's Day (photo: PAP/Valdemar Doveiko)
This year’s candle drive brought together Polish schools and organisations from both Lithuania and Poland.
The Polish Embassy in Vilnius contributed one thousand red-and-white candles - the colours of the Polish flag - which were placed at the Antakalnis Cemetery, Lithuania’s largest Polish military burial site, containing 1,626 graves of soldiers who fell in the fighting for Vilnius in 1919-1920.
The campaign brought more than 13,000 candles to life across Vilnius, honoring Polish soldiers and national heroes laid to rest in Lithuania (photo: PAP/Valdemar Doveiko)
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Source: Radio Poland/IAR/X/@PLinLithuania