10 Fascinating Graveyards You Must See

While still considered a strange destination on holiday, a growing
number of people are seeking out cemeteries to visit. There is an
inherent fascination in cemeteries that should be embraced. Whether you
are interested in the architecture or artwork of the tombs, the history
of the area, or simply seeking out the final resting place of a
favorite personality, cemeteries are a worthwhile destination.



10 La Recoleta Cemetery
Buenos Aires, Argentina


Always topping lists of places to visit in Buenos Aires, the Cementerio
de la Recoleta is a fascinating glimpse into Argentine history. The
most famous tomb is undoubtedly that of Eve Peron’s, but there are many
more Argentinean politicians, poets and personalities. The cemetery is
designed much like a city, with wide avenues branching off into
alleyways, all lined with “houses” for individuals and families. Many
are exceptionally well maintained, but there are many more that no
longer have family members to maintain them and have thus fallen into
disrepair. There are stories of crypts being used as maintenance
closets, with cleaning supplies stored on top of coffins. Among the
tombs that have been maintained, you will find many sculptures that
have been declared national historic monuments, as well as a myriad of
styles, from Egyptian to Gothic to Art Deco. Another interesting note:
among Argentina’s rich and famous deceased, you may also find a colony
of feral cats that have made Cementerio de la Recoleta their home, and
who are often fed by the locals.




9 Saint Louis Cemetery
New Orleans, Louisiana


This is actually three cemeteries. Each is worth visiting, though Saint
Louis Cemetery #1 is, in my opinion, the most interesting, and the one
I will be referring to. The tombs in Saint Louis are above ground, and
the stone buildings are actually concealing bodies only a few feet away
from the visitor. The reason for this is supposedly because the ground
water level in New Orleans is impractical for burials, though there is
some dispute of this. Saint Louis #1 is more than a little run down,
and a tour guide is strongly recommended. Voodoo is alive and well in
New Orleans and the tomb of Voodoo Queen Marie LaVeau is supposedly
located in the Glapion family crypt in Louis #1. When I visited,
graffiti made this particular tomb hard to miss, but that was a few
years ago, and I can’t vouch for what it looks like now. As an aside,
when I visited I did not go with a tour. Aimless wandering through the
one square block cemetery found many tombs that had been broken into,
and more than a few remains scattered. This cemetery is not for the
fainthearted.



8 Forest Lawn Memorial Parks
Glendale & Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California


Also: Hollywood Forever (Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.)
Three places for the price of one! First, Forest Lawn: A unique entry…
The creators of these parks wanted to approach the creation of a final
resting place with a sunnier outlook. The result is practically a theme
park for death. Traditional headstones are ditched in favor of markers
set into the ground, and replicas of artwork –paintings and statuary-
and famous buildings from all over the world, abound. If, for instance,
you want to see the complete collection of Michelangelo’s sculptures
but can’t afford to bounce around Europe, look no further. This
cemetery contains the only complete collection in the world that is
made from casts of the originals and marble from the same quarry
Michelangelo used. Between Glendale and Hollywood Hills you can find
the final resting place of what may seem like most of Hollywood (and
you’ll find the rest at Hollywood Forever). Curiously, some of the
graves are in a restricted section, among them Hollywood elite such as
Humphrey Bogart, Nat King Cole and Mary Pickford, but most are
available to the public. Some of the more visited markers are those of
Walt Disney, L. Frank Baum, Errol Flynn, James Stewart, Spencer Tracy,
Tex Avery, Scatman Crothers, Bette Davis, Marty Feldman, Buster Keaton,
Fritz Lang, Liberace, Telly Savales (buried with a lollipop!), and
many, many more. Hollywood Forever is located nearby, adjacent to the
north wall of Paramount studios. It is less popular because it spent
the latter part of the 20th century being run down and financially
mismanaged. It was purchased by its current owners in 1998 and
refurbished. Movies are screened there in the summertime, drawing
hundreds of visitors. Famous occupants include Mel Blanc, Cecille B.
DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., George Harrison,
Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone, Rudolph Valentino, and my all time favorite
actor, Peter Lorre.



7 Green-Wood Cemetery
Brooklyn, New York


Boasting 600,000 graves spread out over 478 acres, this site is a
popular tourist attraction for those visiting New York City. Like
Père-Lachaise, there was a campaign to promote the cemetery involving
moving famous bodies there and donating monuments. Unlike
Père-Lachaise, the plan didn’t really work, and from the time it was
opened in 1838 until the building of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 made
it easier to get there, the cemetery did not get that many permanent
residents. Those that did come to stay had plenty of room to do so,
however. There are hundreds of ornate tombs for famous and non-famous
residents alike, but the site still seems wide open. Most New Yorkers
who made their name in the second half of the 19th century (a prolific
chunk of time for famous New Yorkers) can be found here. There are also
war memorials and monuments, including an Obelisk that serves as a
grave marker for 103 of the nearly 300 victims of the Brooklyn Theater
Fire.



6 Old Jewish Cemetery
Josefov, Prague, Chzech Republic


Easily the oldest cemetery on this list, with the earliest discernable
headstone dating back to 1439, the Old Jewish Cemetery operated until
1787, which means it closed before most of the entries on this list had
opened. The headstones bear this out, jumbled at strange angles and
deeply weatherworn. Ropes divide the walkway from the headstones, and
tickets can be bought to see the cemetery individually or in addition
to visiting the surrounding synagogues. Interestingly, while many
Jewish cemeteries were destroyed during the holocaust, Hitler
specifically requested this one remain intact, as he apparently
intended to build a museum here after his assumed victory.




5 Zentralfriedhof
Simmering, Vienna, Austria


At 2.4 square kilometers, it is the second largest cemetery (after
Hamburg) in Europe. It also, at 3.3 million occupants, is the largest
in Europe by number interred. Conveniently, the most famous occupants
of Zentralfriedhof are located in a section called the Ehrengräber.
Just as Vienna is the capital of classical music, so the Ehrengräber is
the home of many classical musicians and composers, many of whom where
moved from other cemeteries (to complete the collection, so to speak).
Here you will find Ludiwg Van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Antonio
Salieri, Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss (I&II), and, interestingly,
Falco (of Der Kommissar fame).



4 Merry Cemetery
Săpânţa, Maramureş county, Romania


A strangely joyous cemetery, Merry Cemetery contains hundreds of wooden
markers brightly painted with scenes from the lives (and sometimes the
demise) of the deceased, as well as poems about their lives. There is
little or no weather proofing on the markers, so that the paint fades
with the memories of the dearly departed. You can find many pictures of
markers here, with translations of some of the inscriptions.


3 Protestant Cemetery
Near Porta San Paolo, Rome, Italy


Also known as the Englishman’s cemetery and the Non-Catholic Cemetery,
the latter moniker applies the best. This was the place to bury those
who died in and around Rome but who where not Catholic. The most
recognizable feature of the cemetery is probably the Pyramid of
Cestius, a small scale Egyptian style pyramid built around 18 to 12
B.C. that is the tomb of a Gaius Cestius Epulo, making it the oldest
tomb in the cemetery by over a century and a half. It was incorporated
into the city fortification known as the Aurelian Walls, which were, in
turn, later used as a partial border to the cemetery. The first modern
burials date from the mid 1700’s. Its most famous residents include the
poets John Keats and Percy Shelley, making it a pilgrimage site for
fans of Romantic poetry. An interesting story surrounds the burial of
Percy Shelley. Though he was cremated on the beach near where he
drowned, his ashes (minus his heart, which would be buried with Mary
Shelley years later) where to be interred here. The body of his son,
William Shelley, also buried in the Protestant Cemetery, was exhumed to
join his father. Unfortunately, the body exhumed was that of a 5 1/2
foot man, not the body of a three year old boy. In the end, William
Shelley’s body was never found, and Percy Shelley was buried without
him.


2 Cimetière du Père-Lachaise
Paris, France



Located east of Paris’ city center, Père-Lachaise has become arguably
the most famous cemetery in the world, boasting hundreds of thousands
of visitors a year. It was not always this popular, though. When it was
first opened in 1804, no one wanted to be buried there because it had
no history. In a campaign to promote the cemetery, famous bodies where
actually moved to Père-Lachaise, among them Molière and the famed
lovers, Heloise and Abelard. This unusual attention grabber worked, and
Père-Lachaise became the place to go when you were done going places.
There are so many famous buried in Père-Lachaise, it could make up its
own list. Off the top of my head: Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein, Jim
Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Isadora Duncan, Camille Pissarro, Édith Piaf,
Marcel Marceau, Ticky Holgado, Max Ernst, Colette, Frederic Chopin,
Sarah Bernhardt, and Honore de Balzac. If you won’t be finding yourself
with a spare day in Paris in the near future, there is an excellent
virtual tour found here.


1 Highgate Cemetery
Highgate, London, U.K.





The amazing thing about Highgate cemetery is its setting. Unusually, it
is located in a fairly wooded area, so that the complex monuments and
simple gravestones alike are surrounded by trees, ferns and
wildflowers. While the Friends of Highgate Cemetery who took over
maintenance of the decaying site in the late seventies-early eighties
have done much to improve conditions, the grounds, particularly in the
west cemetery (available by tour only) are still rough terrain in some
places, the vegetation constantly threatening to swallow the place
whole. The most famous of its monuments is by far the tomb of Karl
Marx, but various other Victorian celebrities boast fascinating
monuments here.
Contributor: flibbertigibbet