The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. It appears on an old Russian maps since 1860s so it can be assumed that the cemetery emerged in the mid 19th century. The oldest preserved matzevah among existing found relates to the late 19th century.
For more information on this site visit: https://www.esjf-cemeteries.org/fenced/smila-old-jewish-cemetery-2/
The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. According to the Lo Tishkakh database, the oldest tombstone dates to 1830. However, the oldest tombstone found by the ESJF survey team dates to the late 19th century. As such the cemetery was most likely founded in that period. It first appears on a Russian map of the region from 1923. The fence was erected by ESJF in 2015.
The Church of St. Elijah was built in the 1650s in the style of early Ukrainian Baroque. After the Second World War, a museum of the national hero Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1648 - 1657), who was supposed to be buried here, was opened in the church. In 1954, a symbolic granite tombstone in his honour was erected in the church according to the design of architect I. Shmulson. Since 1990, the church has been returned to the religious community.
The exact date of the cemetery’s foundation is unknown. The oldest tombstone dates to the early 20th century. It can first be found marked on Russian and German maps from 1941. The cemetery was fenced by ESJF in July 2015.
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