{"id":1814754,"date":"2023-08-17T14:04:57","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T11:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visithaapsalu.com\/vormsi-kalmistu\/"},"modified":"2024-08-09T00:54:36","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T21:54:36","slug":"vormsi-kalmistu","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.visithaapsalu.com\/en\/estonian-swedes\/vormsi-kalmistu\/","title":{"rendered":"Vormsi cemetery"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Vormsi cemetery<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Vormsi cemetery<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t
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Vormsi cemetery near the church of St. Olaf is unique for its large number of sun crosses. There are a total of 343 of them and it is considered the largest known collection of sun crosses in the world. In addition to sun crosses, the cemetery has stone, wrought iron and cast iron crosses  as well as wooden crosses.<\/p>\n

The main entrance is on the southern side of the cemetery, with the older part containing the sun crosses to the left and the modern burial ground to the right. There is an old chapel in the south-west corner of the cemetery, which was restored in 1990.<\/p>\n

It is believed that sun crosses were first used on Vormsi in the 17th century, although no crosses from that period have survived. The oldest surviving sun cross in Vormsi cemetery dates back to 1743 and the newest is from 1923. Most of the crosses are from the 19th century.<\/p>\n

Sun crosses, or wheel crosses, were cut out of limestone and sandstone by Estonian Swedes. According to Vormsi folklore, the stone for the crosses was brought from the S\u00e4malgrunne shallows south of Hobulaid islet during low tide, as well as from S\u00f5meri islet, which was said to have had a stone quarry. It is also said that Gotland grindstones may have been used to make the crosses.<\/p>\n

It is not known whether there were any villages or craftsmen on the island who could have made the crosses \u2013 no remnants of stonecutting or unfinished crosses have been found. They were probably made by the peasants themselves, as each cross has a different appearance and the level of workmanship also varies. Some crosses have been cut and polished skilfully and with care, while others are more crude, of uneven thickness and unpolished.<\/p>\n

The crosses have Swedish names written in an arch across the cross. These records have been used to assess the literacy of the islanders. There are spelling mistakes on crosses that are more crudely made. The crosses often bear village names, sometimes farm names, but almost always family marks. The years marked on the crosses represent dates of death.  Often there are several dates on the crosses, all indicating dates of death. The date of death would presumably be marked on the old family cross once the wooden cross on the grave was too decayed.<\/p>\n

There are no pathways in the old part of the cemetery. The graves are oriented north-south. What comes across as unusual is that the old section of the cemetery was taken into use all at once as indicated by the dates on the grave markers. This is explained by the fact that burials were carried out by entire villages at once. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sun crosses or wheel crosses<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t
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A sun cross, or wheel cross, is an ancient symbol often found on Bronze Age rock carvings in Scandinavia. The circle and the cross inside the circle symbolised the sun. It was also seen as a symbol of life and the cycle of the seasons with the four arms of the cross representing the four cardinal points.<\/p>\n

Sun crosses have a long history of being used as grave markers. The oldest grave markers bearing the names of Estonians that have partly survived to this day are sun crosses, which can be found predominantly in churchyards in Northern Estonia and date from the late 16th century and the 17th century. The oldest surviving cross with an inscription in Estonian was erected in 1593 in J\u00e4rva-Jaani and five years later for Anne Ratasepp in Suure-Jaani. There were two types of early sun cross. In one case, the cross is on a high pedestal and inside the ring there is a Maltese cross with widening ends. In another case, the cross forms a diamond inside the ring. The use of both types of crosses on mainland Estonia was brought to an end by the Great Northern War, plague and famine at the beginning of the 18th century.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the third type of sun cross was just beginning to be used on Vormsi. The sun crosses of the Estonian Swedes  also have a different shape as they are smaller and have a Latin cross in the middle. Such crosses are mainly found in Vormsi cemetery, but they can also be found elsewhere in Western Estonia (Haapsalu, Ridala, L\u00e4\u00e4ne-Nigula, Noarootsi).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Monument to those fallen in Estonian War of Independence<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t
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Between Vormsi church and the cemetery, at the gate of the churchyard, stands a memorial with Swedish writing and three names. It is a memorial to Vormsi residents who died in the Estonian War of Independence. It is one of the few monuments dedicated to those fallen in the War of Independence that remained intact throughout the entire Soviet occupation.<\/p>\n

The inscription on the stone, erected in 1929, reads: \u00d6borna reste stenen \u00e5r 1929 \u00e5t minnet av Grihetsk\u00e4mparna J. Liljeb\u00e4ck, H. Liljeb\u00e4ck. Timmerman, L. Str\u00e4ng 1919<\/em> (The islanders erected this stone in 1929 to commemorate the freedom fighters).<\/p>\n

The occupying forces did not realise that this stone with Swedish engravings was a memorial to those who had lost their lives in the War of Independence since it did not bear the dates 1918-1920. Thus, no instructions were given for it to be destroyed. The stone was soon overtaken by a lilac bush. At the end of the 1980s, the memorial\u2019s surface and its surroundings were cleared by the local community. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vormsi cemetery Vormsi cemetery Vormsi cemetery near the church of St. Olaf is unique for its large number of sun crosses. There are a total of 343 of them and it is considered the largest known collection of sun crosses in the world. In addition to sun crosses, the cemetery has stone, wrought iron and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1815348,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1814754","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVormsi cemetery - Visit Haapsalu<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vormsi cemetery near the church of St. Olaf is unique for its large number of sun crosses, 343 in total.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.visithaapsalu.com\/en\/estonian-swedes\/vormsi-kalmistu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vormsi cemetery - Visit Haapsalu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vormsi cemetery near the church of St. Olaf is unique for its large number of sun crosses, 343 in total.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.visithaapsalu.com\/en\/estonian-swedes\/vormsi-kalmistu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Visit Haapsalu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/visithaapsalu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-08T21:54:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.visithaapsalu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/separator.svg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visithaapsalu.com\\\/en\\\/estonian-swedes\\\/vormsi-kalmistu\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visithaapsalu.com\\\/en\\\/estonian-swedes\\\/vormsi-kalmistu\\\/\",\"name\":\"Vormsi cemetery - 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