The originally small parish cemetery, now under the administration of the Parish of the Most Holy Salvator, was consecrated in 1865. It served the residents of the suburb of Zwierzyniec, Półwsie, and the surrounding villages: Przegorzały, Chełm, Bielany, and Olszanica.

In 1883, the necropolis was fenced off, and in 1888, thanks to the efforts of the Norbertine nuns' prioress Eufemia Żarska, a neo-Gothic cemetery chapel of St Joseph was built, with catacombs for the nuns designed by Sebastian Jaworzyński, and consecrated in 1889. The cemetery was extended in 1902 and 1999 and renovated in 1995. In 2001, a plaque in honour of the poet Jerzy Harasymowicz, funded by the city, with an excerpt from his poem, was placed at the main gate.

More than 25,000 people are buried in the cemetery. There is a mass grave of the inhabitants of Wola Justowska, soothed by the Germans in 1943. In 1979, the ashes of Adam Mickiewicz's son, Rafał Józef, who died in 1938, were brought from Paris. Many prominent Poles are buried in the cemetery, including theatre actor Juliusz Osterwa, poet and satirist Jan Sztaudynger, painter Andrzej Wróblewski, aviator Janusz Meissner, physicist and mathematician Roman Stanisław Ingarden, science fiction writer Stanisław Lem, Young Poland playwright Karol Hubert Rostworowski, theatre creator and stage designer Karol Frycz, theatre and film director and Academy Award winner Andrzej Wajda.

The cemetery's location on the road from Salwator to the Kosciuszki Mound means that locals and tourists often visit it.  It offers a beautiful panoramic view of the city, the Beskid range, and the Tatra peaks.