One of the oldest survived Jewish cemeteries in the voivodeship with the only (apart from Sandomierz) preserved gravestones originating from the 17th century as well as examples of sarcophagus-shaped gravestones, double gravestones and gravestones decorated with a convex inscription, which are rare in the voivodeship.
History
The first records related to Jews in Chęciny come from inspection documents of 1564-65. In a Catholic house, there lived then four owners and two Jewish tenants. One year later, the town received a privilege forbidding the Jews from building a synagogue or employing Christian servants. Chęciny did not have the privilege de non tolerandis Judaeis, but in 1581, the town received a letter from Stefan Batory, limiting the number of Jewish homes to two. In 1583, dwellers of Chęciny demanded that the excessive number of Jews be removed from the town. As a result of a pledge to the king, Jews were allowed to leave in Chęciny, but only by virtue of residential tradition. In 1597, Sigismund III Vasa granted economic privileges to Jews. The right to build a synagogue they received back in 1638 from Vladislav IV. In the 1st half of the 17th century, there was an organised Jewish commune here with a rabbi, teacher, and hazzan, keeping a cemetery, which can be evidenced by the fact that in 1660, Jews gave testimony to the royal inspector that they had a privilege for "Kirhof" In 1668, starost of Chęciny Stefan Bidziński permitted Jews to freely trade and purchase real property. In the same year, they were ensured right to restore the cemetery. The privilege was approved in 1677 by John III, confirmed in 1720 by Augustus II the Strong, and in 1765 by Stanisław August Poniatowski. By decree of the Permanent Council of 1777, all settlement limitations against Jews in Chęciny were withdrawn, which was conducive to settlement development, to a significant extent because of a small distance from Kielce, were Jews were usually not allowed to settle. For the same reason, until the mid-19th century the cemetery was also used by Jews from Kielce. In 1928, it was fenced, featured a stone gate laid with wood shingles and a pre-burial house. The cemetery was closed in 1964. In 2007, cleaning works were carried out on it.