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Raadi cemetery, (Estonian: Raadi kalmistu) is the oldest and largest burial ground in Tartu, Estonia, dating back to 1773.^[1] Many prominent historical figures are buried there. It is also the largest Baltic German cemetery in Estonia after the destruction of Kopli cemetery in Tallinn. Until 1841, it was the only cemetery in the town.

The cemetery currently includes several smaller graveyard sections, the oldest of which date back to 1773.

Origins, 1771–1773

Between 1771 and 1772, Russian empress Catherine the Great, issued an edict which decreed that from that point on no-one who died (regardless of their social standing or class origins) was to be buried in a church crypt or churchyard; all burials were to take place in the new cemeteries to be built throughout the entire Russian empire, which were to be located outside town boundaries.

These measures were intended to overcome the congestion of urban church crypts and graveyards, and were prompted by a number of outbreaks of highly contagious diseases linked to inadequate burial practices in urban areas, especially the black plague which had led to the Plague Riot in Moscow in 1771.

The burial ground was officially opened on 5 November 1773 as the St. John's (town) parish cemetery. It also served as the University of Tartu's burial ground. The St. Mary's (country) parish and Russian Orthodox Dormition congregation cemeteries were established north-west of the St. John's in the same year. It served as the only cemetery in the town until 1841.

Decline in burials, 1939–1944

Burials at the cemetery were drastically reduced after the transfer of Baltic German population over to western Poland in late 1939.^[1] Burials at the cemetery continued on a much smaller scale until 1944, principally among those Baltic Germans who had refused Hitler's call to leave the region.

Present state

By the beginning of the 21st century, the expansion of the town has passed beyond the borders of the cemetery and alternative burial grounds are established elsewhere in the town. A Pseudotsuga parkway located at the cemetery is under protection.

Notable interments

Franz Ulrich Theodor Aepinus (1724–1802), physicist
Betti Alver (1906–1989), poet
Paul Ariste (1905–1990), linguist
Kalev Arro (1915–1974), Forest Brother partisan
Lauri Aus (1970–2003), cyclist
Karl Ernst von Baer (1792–1876), biologist
Friedrich Bidder (1810–1894), physiologist
Alexander Bunge (1803–1890), botanist
Karl Ernst Claus (1796–1864), chemist and naturalist
Karl Gottfried Konstantin Dehio (1851–1927), internist
Jaan Eilart (1933–2006), phytogeographer and conservationist
Friedrich Robert Faehlmann (1798–1850), philologist
Anna Haava (1864–1957), poet and translator
Miina Härma (1864–1941), composer
Gregor von Helmersen (1803–1885), geologist
Samuel Gottlieb Rudolph Henzi (1794–1829), orientalist and theologist
Johann Voldemar Jannsen (1819–1890), journalist and poet
Harald Keres (1912–2010), physicist
Amalie Konsa (1873–1949), actress
Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803–1882), writer
Olevi Kull (1955–2007), ecologist
Eerik Kumari (1912–1984), naturalist and conservationist
Julius Kuperjanov (1894–1919), military commander^[2]
Raine Loo (1945–2020), actress
Oskar Loorits (1900–1961), folklorist
Juri Lotman (1922–1993), semiotician and culturologist
Juhan Luiga (1873–1927), psychiatrist, physician, author, publicist and politician
Leonhard Merzin (1934–1990), actor
Otto Wilhelm Masing (1763–1832), writer
Uku Masing (1909–1985), philosopher and folklorist
Viktor Masing (1925–2001), ecologist
Zara Mints (1927–1990), literary scientist
Friedrich Parrot (1791–1841), naturalist and traveller
Ludvig Puusepp (1875–1942), surgeon
Edmund Russow (1841–1897), biologist
August Sabbe (1909–1978), Forest Brother
Hermann Guido von Samson-Himmelstjerna (1809–1868), physician
Carl Schmidt (1822–1894), chemist
Gustav Teichmüller (1832–1888), philosopher
Hugo Treffner (1845–1912), pedagogue
Mihkel Veske (1843–1890), poet and linguist