Skip to content

← Home

Cossack Cemetery Near Perekop

An abandoned Cossack cemetery on the shore of the Putrid Sea (Syvash) near Perekop, captured by the Italian artist Carlo Bossoli in the mid-19th century under the erroneous name "russian Burial-Ground". Despite the imperial label, the characteristic trefoil crosses unambiguously indicate that Zaporozhian Cossacks found their final resting place here.

Overview

In 1856, an album of colored lithographs by Italian artist Carlo Bossoli titled "The Beautiful Scenery and Chief Places of Interest throughout the Crimea" was published in London. Among the artist's 52 works, created during his travels in Crimea in 1840–1842 and 1855, particular attention is drawn to the second to last painting, captioned "russian Burial-Ground. On the shores of the Putrid Sea, near Perekop".

The painting depicts an old cemetery with tilted and fallen stone crosses. However, the shape of these crosses—trefoil—is characteristic specifically of Cossack burials, not russian cemeteries.

Cossack Crosses and Symbolism

The Cossack (trefoil) cross was depicted on seals, banners, and coats of arms of the Zaporozhian knighthood. It is one of the main symbols of the Ukrainian Cossacks, which entered folk tradition.

Crosses of analogous appearance have been preserved to this day in ancient Cossack cemeteries: - Kuyalnyk (Sotnykovsky) Cemetery — near Odesa, on Shkodova Mount near the Khadzhibey Estuary; one of the earliest graves dates back to 1791 (4 years before the appearance of the name "Odesa" itself); - Usatove Cemetery — also near the Khadzhibey Estuary; - Cemetery in the village of Kurisove (formerly Petrivka) — near the Tiligul Estuary; - Cemetery in the village of Hlyboke — on the shore of the Sasik Estuary.

Historians assert that these areas were inhabited by descendants of Zaporozhian Cossacks who settled in the Black Sea steppes after wars with the Ottomans and participated in the development of the region.

Cossack Presence in Crimea

The existence of a Cossack cemetery near Perekop testifies to an ancient and deep presence of Ukrainian Cossacks on the Crimean peninsula. Perekop was a strategic isthmus through which Cossacks repeatedly conducted campaigns into Crimea. The remains of Cossack burials are material confirmation of these historical ties.

Parallels: Cave Dwellings of Usatove and Crimea

In the village of Usatove near Odesa (not far from the Usatove Cossack cemetery), there are cave dwellings similar to those in the mountainous areas and coastal shores of Crimea. Their front walls were whitewashed like traditional Ukrainian houses, and people lived in some of them up until the early 1980s, when they were forcibly relocated. This is another link connecting the Cossack Black Sea region with the Cave Towns of Crimea.

Modern Memory

In late autumn 2016, in the village of Stavky in Kherson region, near the administrative border with Crimea, another Cossack cross was erected—in memory of Crimeans who died defending Ukraine on its southern and eastern territories.