CEMETERY WORKING HOURS ACCORDING TO THE DECISION ON CEMETERY MANAGEMENT
The cemetery is open for visits every day, that is during the period:
from 16/09 until 15/04
from 8,00 until 18,00 hours
from 16/04 until 15/09
from 7,30 until 20,00 hours
THE CEMETERY IS LOCKED ACCORDING TO THE SPECIFIED WORKING HOURS
Komunalni servis LLC manages the city cemetery in Rovinj and the Cemetery in Rovinjsko Selo. In 2004 the company completed a significant investment into the expansion of the city cemetery in Rovinj. In October of 2004, this part of the cemetery became used actively. As part of this service, works are being carried out on the current maintenance of all facilities of the city cemetery, chapels, and other auxiliary spaces.
Maintenance of cemetery facilities and once-a-year arrangement of abandoned graves are financed from the City of Rovinj budget. The rest of the major interventions and current maintenance works are funded from grave fee revenues, which the users pay, that is, grave plot owners.
CITY CEMETERY "LASTE"
The beginning of City cemetery “Laste” construction, its oldest section (the one extending towards the west), goes back to 1898. A year earlier, Trieste Governorate (CK) issued an Order to close the Cemetery in Monte, which was built in 1782 under the plateau of St. Eufemia church and was expanded between 1836 and 1851 by upgrading the second terrace towards the sea. Before the creation of this 18th-century Cemetery, the Deceased had been buried around the old parish church. Later on, they were interred along the southwestern hillside of the Parish church and for a few years during the 18th century in the canonical courtyard located north of the parish church, in its vicinity. Burials were performed even in the Lamanova area for a brief period after the Cemetery in Monte closed.
After several months of discussing the Trieste Architect Enrico Nordi's project, in October 1898, work began on a new city cemetery along the southwestern slope of the Laste hill, the site of a prehistoric hillfort.
On December 7th, the completed section of the cemetery was consecrated by the Prelate don Luigi Medelin in the presence of the City Hall President Antonio Bemba. A day later, on December 8th, the first Decedent, a four-year-old Eufemia Dapas, was buried there.
Execution of works was initially assigned to engineer Giovanni Vidmer, and starting with the year 1900, the works were assigned to the municipal engineer Clemente Colpi. In 1902 works began on erecting walls and beautiful Porch containing stylistic features that take us back to the Trieste eclectic circle of the late 19th century with its monumental Neo-Renaissance forms. There are 48 Dorian pillars with simple echinus and abacus that extend along the back wall of the entire width of the cemetery.
These pillars have been interrupted by five openings resembling the facades of the porches found in smaller Temples, accessed with an equal number of staircases. The central opening, much more spacious and higher than others, with a gable resting on two pilasters and two pillars, represents the façade and Porch of the Chapel of St. Savior. The lateral (2) and central (2) openings are smaller, and their gables rest on two pilasters with semi-pillar on their front facades. Architrave above the entrance into the cemetery contains a Common wording in Latin: RESSURECTURIS (To those who shall resurrect).
The cemetery chapel St. Savior was inaugurated and consecrated on November 25th, 1906. There is the following inscription on a stone slab in front of the entrance: HEIC / RESURECTIONEM MORTUORUM / EXPECTANT / SACERDOTES ET REGULARES / RUBINENSES / PRECES VIVORUM / POSTULANTES.
The oldest tombstone plaque in the cemetery, which still exists to this day, (plot H, row 17, grave no. 9) was made for a young, twenty-four-year-old Antonio De Angelini, who passed away on July 14th, 1900. There is an inscription on the "open book" of the commemorative plaque stating: MUOR GIOVANE COLUI CHE AL CIELO E' CARO (He who is dear to heaven dies young).
The first funeral vehicle owned by the Rovinj funeral parlor Lodovico Brunetti was used for the first time on May 7th, 1905. At that time, a tiny brochure also appeared under the title “Regolamento del cimitero comunale di Rovigno” (City Cemetery Rovinj Ordinance), printed without indicated date of publishing by Rovinj publisher Antonio Coana (Prima Tipografia Istriana).
Eight rows of cypress trees “Cupressus sempervirens' Pyramidalis” (a total of 122 specimens) classified as monuments of landscape architecture are also of great importance. Almost 200 tombstones inside the Porch, along bordering walls and main pathways, and individual graves within eight cemetery plots are of particular historical significance. They contain high-quality stonemasonry works. Most of them hold a significant artistic value, and almost all of them come from the workshops of local stonemasons.
In 1997, Lapidary was opened to the left from the cemetery Chapel. This initiative was supported by Trieste Regional Institute for Istrian Culture (IRCI), "Famia ruvignisa" association headquartered in Trieste, City of Rovinj, and municipal company Municipal Service LLC, guided by the professional advice of Mag. Antonio Pauletich, Nelo Grbac drafted a Blueprint of Lapidary.
Lapidary houses over one hundred and fifty old tombstones, the oldest of which is Vittorio Draschenberg's "Imperial-Royal Captain," who passed away on May 20th, 1855. Sculpture of a young "Inconsolable" woman (most likely fiancée Mariette Glezer, who ordered it) is placed on a stone sarcophagus with an iron cross. Also, it is worth noting that this is the only tombstone moved from the old cemetery at locality Monte to the new cemetery "Laste."
The inscriptions on more than 3000 graves of the city cemetery and Lapidary represent an onomastic heritage of significant value for the City of Rovinj. Many notable figures can be found here, protagonists of the economic and social, cultural, political, and sports history of Rovinj during this last century.
New Wing of the City cemetery "Laste" (the one towards the east) was built from 2001-2004 according to the project by architect Vladimir Delfar, which in main lines, follows the planimetric structure of the old section of the cemetery. Company Cesta LLC from Pula prepared the terrain for burial and erected walls and niches for graves from October 23rd, 2001, until April 18th, 2002. Company Kamen from Pazin cladded the outer part of walls with stone and placed all curbs in the new Cemetery from October 23rd, 2001, until April 18th, 2002. According to Vladimir Delfar's project, the Central stone cross-project was produced and installed by Azul company from Rovinj in 2003.
On June 19th, 2004, the new section of the cemetery was consecrated by the Bishop of the Diocese of Poreč and Pula Ivan Milovan. Present were Rovinj Pastor Milan Zgrablić as well as several priests from the neighboring Parishes, Mayor of the city of Rovinj Giovanni Sponza, and President of the City council Davorin Flego. The first burial was performed on September 24th, 2004 (Aleksandar Premović).
Subsequently, in the year 2006, wall pilasters and edges -banners of nearby tombs were cladded with stone according to a project designed by architect Aleksandar Paris, who also authored the restructuring project of the two cemetery chapels by the entrance. During recent years, work has been completed on pathways and small green surfaces of the old cemetery, and on the area in front of the old cemetery and its entrance.