The portal in the shape of a triumphal arch at the entrance to the Cemetery of Heroes

THE PORTAL IN THE SHAPE OF A TRIUMPHAL ARCH AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE CEMETERY OF HEROES The militaries took the initiative to establish the Heroes' Cemetery, located in the courtyard of the Heroes' Church. General Nicolae Uică, the successor of General Traian Epure at the command of 5th Infantry Division, who was also the president of the local branch of the "Cult of Heroes" Society, started the works for the establishment of a collector cemetery. The monuments erected in honour of the soldiers fallen in the campaign of 1913 (Second Balkan War), as well as the two monuments erected by the Germans during the First World War, were brought from Saint George cemetery to this cemetery. These were placed in the four parts of the cemetery. In the Heroes' Cemetery of Buzău rest 9,653 unknown heroes (from both belligerent camps, the Entente and the Central Powers, which makes this necropolis the largest cemetery of heroes in Romania and one of the most important cemeteries with unknown heroes in Europe): 8,001 Romanian militaries, 753 German militaries, 744 Austro-Hungarian militaries, 136 Russian and Bulgarian militaries, 14 Turkish militaries and 5 Italian militaries and 1 Jewish military, who fought in the First World War for the ideals of their homeland. At the entrance to the cemetery, a portal in the shape of a triumphal arch was built, on the frontispiece of which there is the inscription "Heroes' Cemetery", and on the back the year "1930". On both sides, on the supporting pillars, a miniature cannon and an eagle were placed. In a medallion on the left pillar there is the inscription, “Traveller, uncover your head. The sons of the reunited homeland rest here happy to have done their duty". In an identical medallion located on the right pillar there is the inscription, "Here rest the soldiers fallen in the great war for the nation's union 1916-1919". The ceremony of inauguration of the cemetery, which took place on 8th October 1931, was attended, in addition to the army from the garrison, by a large public and members of "Military Virtue of War" association, as well as high officials of the time: King Carol II, Prime Minister Nicolae Iorga, Bishop Ghenadie Niculescu of Buzău, General Constantin Ştefănescu-Amza, the Minister of War, General Marcel Olteanu, Inspector of the Army.