Old village cemeteries from the perspective of heritage studies and heritage protection

However, it is necessary to understand that even earlier the burial places (today called burial grounds) functioned in no other way than cemeterie of a village community. After the realization of the Valakai Refom, the reconstruction of the old pre-valakai villages and the establishment of the new ones, the net of the settlements became compressed and obtained a new structure. An assumption has been made that with the formation of a new net of settlements, new burial places were formed. In the history of village cemeteries, the Valakai Reform might be considered as one of the most important chronological aspects due to the fact that the formation of part of the remaining cemeteries or burial grounds might be related to the establishment of villages. On the bas is of the results of archeological research and data given in the historical sources, it has been determined that, typically, after the Valakai Reform in the first half of the 16th century, with the formation of new villages, new burial places were formed in some uninhabited localities. It should be also noted that, if an old burial place was found in the territory of a newly formed or reconstructed village, this factor determined the development of the cemetery around it. Another tradition, kept by part of village dwellers at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, was burying the deceased in the churchyards. In the 19th century, most people were buried in the newly formed parish cemeteries. Nevertheless, up to as late as the middle of the 20th century, the tradition of burying the deceased in the cemeteries located near villages is noted