Municipal Cemetery Of Kyustendil

http://www.heritageabroad.gov/Portals/0/Reports%20and%20Surveys/Bulgaria%20Jewish%20sites%202011%20(1).pdf?ver=2016-02-24-124025-147 The story of how the old Jewish cemetery and the old municipal cemetery came to be adjacent and at a different location is as follows: Kyustendil is situated 80 km southwest from Sofia, 20 km from the border with Macedonia, and 35 km from Serbia, in a valley at the foot of the Osogovo part of the Balkan Mountains. Approximately 80 people made up the Jewish population at the time of the survey. The cemetery is situated 1.5 km east of the center of the town. The original Jewish cemetery was situated on the left hill of the Adjundarski gorge, near the Katranlia mahala (residential district). The municipal cemetery was near the Sveti Mina church. The positioning of the cemeteries violated the local health law and, perhaps more controversially, created obstacles to the town's outward development. In 1894, the municipal cemetery was moved to a plot between the road to Sofia and the road to Dupnitza, where it was far enough from the town and where there was no arable land. In 1900, the Jewish cemetery was moved to an adjacent location. Burials there continued until 1951. The site is approximately 1.9 hectares in size and it contains about 600 gravestones with inscriptions in Hebrew and Bulgarian. There is no wall or fence protecting the site. The cemetery was repeatedly vandalized between 1989 and 1999. As a result, it is in a very poor condition. Eighty percent of the gravestones are broken and others were stolen. Despite several attempts to restore the cemetery, lack of funds have prevented a serious repair effort. At the time of the survey, the cemetery was maintained by Shalom-Kyustendil and a regular caretaker. Vegetation is regularly cut and water drainage is not a problem.