Yaniv cemetery was established in 1883 for the western part of the Lviv city. In 1855, on the outskirts of Gold str. was created a new Jewish cemetery. Partly because of this and partly due to the distance from downtown, first Yaniv cemetery has not enjoyed great popularity. Most of it buried people were from poorer groups. But here are buried many prominent figures of Ukrainian and Polish history and culture: the first prominent Lviv citizen, buried here, was the Latin Archbishop Jozef Bilczewski, who bequeathed to bury himselv among the poor.
Yaniv cemetery took for the eternal rest famous Ukrainians: activist Olga Basarab, murdered by Polish chauvinists; OUN fighters Bilas Vasyl and Danylyshyn Dmitry, executed by the Polish court verdict; Commander Myron Tarnawsky; about a thousand soldiers, killed in fighting in November 1918, and prisoners from the Ukrainian-Polish War of 1918-19’s; artist Modest Sosenko; poet Bohdan-Igor Antonych. Till 1939 the cemetery already had about 54 fields and 115 000 graves.
Between the two World Wars at Yanivcky cemetery took place annual commemorations. But there were sad page in the history of this cemetery. Soviet authorities promoted the public policy against military burials of "enemy" armies, so in 1971 on behalf of the executive committee of Lviv bulldozers dug up graves and destroyed the crosses. Enthusiasts did manage to save the graves of Myron Tarnawsky and Kostya Levicky. Although after it their graves were destroyed several times.
However representatives of Soviet power back in 50’s brought up the memorial of Lviv workers killed in battle with Polish police in 1936 during the funeral of the unemployed Wladyslaw Kozak and the grave of communist Botvina Naphtali..
In 1962, after the dissolution of Lviv's Jewish community, to Yaniv cemetery was added a new Jewish cemetery, which was created in 1855. There was organized the way to the cemetery in 1856, built a fence in Neo-Roman style and an office building. After the tragic killings of the Jews of Lviv by Polish soldiers in late November 1918, at Kortumoviy Hill was built a memorial to his victims. Elimination of the cemetery began in 1943. In the Soviet period the cemetery continued to operate under the tutelage of the Jewish community. Near the entrance from the Eroshenko str Jewish community erected a granite obelisk. Compact Jewish graves are located along the main avenue and the nearby fields. It has its own numbering fields. After 1962 this cemetery is used for non-Jewish graves also.
Above 37 field there was installed a slab with the inscription “Here are buried Soviet citizens – victims of Nazi atrocities in Lvov 1941-1943”, which indicates that this sign was installed in memory of Holocaust victims.
Before the war at Yaniv cemetery special places were allocated under the following burial. Fields 42 and 43 destined for the military garnison of Lviv. On the 41st field were buried soldiers of World War, Polish-Ukrainian war of 1918-1919 and the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920. It also carried the remains of 226 soldiers of the First Mounted Army, who died in the attack of the Budyonny army. On the 37th field there is a small Polish military cemetery. But because of the collapse in 1970th there remained only a few graves and a memorial cross.
During the German occupation Yaniv cemetery used for Nazi soldiers funeral. In 1941 there was established a separate cemetery for Slovaks, but destroyed the 1970's. On the western outskirts of the cemetery outside the field 53, there is located a cemetery of German POWs who were staying in Ukraine in 1945-1949. But only 20 numbered graves are saved. An interesting artistic consideration is Dzentselovskyh family tomb, decorated with bas-relief "Way to Eternity" (1919).
The oldest monument is an artistic monument of Mahan family, which included a well known physician, professor of Lviv University Johann Mahan (1764-1824). Headstone is made in the Empire style, with a figure of mourning. This headstone was moved from Gorodetsky cemetery in the early 20 century after its liquidation. Interesting are also the crypts in the style of «Art Deco», made in 1920th-30th, Roman tombstone Kaletskoho († 1928) with a relief of a female figure with the torch. Some other tombstones come from the workshops of S. Litvinenko.
In the early 80’s because of lack of space Yaniv cemetery was closed, an exception is made only for burials in the grave and tomb of close relatives.
