During the interwar period when Kaunas was the temporary capital of Lithuania, many famous people were buried there and several buildings (churches, schools) were constructed on the cemetery's territory.

On All Saints' Day in 1956, a spontaneous anti-Soviet demonstration started in the cemetery in support of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

After smaller incidents in 1957 and 1958, Soviet authorities decided to demolish the cemetery and turn it into a recreational park.

People were traditionally buried in churchyards but as the population of Kaunas grew, there was a need for a new city cemetery.

Discussions about relocating the cemetery started as early as twenty years after its opening, but no solutions were found.

[14] In spring 1941, Soviet NKVD tortured and killed 29 political prisoners (including one woman) and buried them in a plot allocated to the new Petrašiūnai Cemetery.

[16] In January 1944, large public funeral of Elena Spirgevičiūtė and Stasė Žukaitė took place in the cemetery.

[17] After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, the cemetery became a place of passive anti-Soviet resistance, particularly on the All Saints' Day when Lithuanians visit graves of their relatives to light a candle.

For example, the demolished grave of General Silvestras Žukauskas has not been located despite an archaeological excavation carried out in 2012.

For example, the tombstone of linguist Kazimieras Jaunius by sculptor Antanas Aleksandravičius [lt] was destroyed and replaced with a simple headstone.

[3][31] The Tatars built the new brick Kaunas Mosque which officially opened on 15 June 1933, an anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald.

[31] One of the very few remaining original structures is a memorial to Russian soldiers who died protecting the Kaunas Fortress during World War I.

[12] A capsule with a document signed by Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg and other German officers was imbedded into the foundations of the monument.

[34] On 27 October 1930, the 500th death anniversary of Grand Duke Vytautas, monument We Died for the Fatherland (Žuvome dėl Tėvynės) was unveiled by President Antanas Smetona and blessed by Vladas Mironas.

[35] At the same time, an unknown soldier who was killed in the present-day Latvia during the Lithuanian–Soviet War was reburied under the monument.

[36] The monument, 9 metres (30 ft) in height, depicted a sword thrusting the ground thus resembling a cross.

[8] A mausoleum dedicated to Stasys Girėnas and Steponas Darius, Lithuanian aviators who died in 1933 attempting a transatlantic flight from New York to Kaunas, was constructed by architect Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis.

[39] In 1941, during World War II, their bodies were removed to the Faculty of Medicine of Vytautas Magnus University and hid in 1944.

Bronze sculpture Four Communards by sculptors Bronius Vyšniauskas and Napoleonas Petrulis [lt] was installed in their memory.

Monument Cross-Tree (sculptor Robertas Antinis) dedicated to the participants of the June Uprising was erected in 1991.

[41] In August 2010, monument Mother of Those Who Perished for Freedom of Lithuania (Žuvusių už Lietuvos laisvę Motinai) by sculptor Vidmantas Gylikis [lt] was erected at the location of the former Catholic chapel.

The path leading to the Mother of Those Who Perished for Freedom of Lithuania is lined with ten stelas – one introductory and one for each of the nine districts of the anti-Soviet Lithuanian partisans.

[42] Some of the notable people buried in the cemetery include: Media related to Ramybė Park (Kaunas) at Wikimedia Commons