Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term originates from the greek work κοιμητήριον meaning sleeping place and can include any large park or burial ground specifically intended for the deposit of the dead. Cemeteries in the Western world are the place where the final ceremonies of death are observed. These ceremonies or rites may differ according to cultural practice or religious belief. Cemeteries are distinguished from other burial grounds by their location and are not usually adjoined to a church, as opposed to a graveyard which is located in a churchyard. A churchyard can also include any patch of land on church grounds. A public cemetery is made open for use by a surrounding community; a private cemetery is used only by a portion of the population or by a specific family group. A cemetery is often a respected area, and may include a church or crematorium for the cremation of the dead.
History
The term cemetery was first used by early Christians and referred to a place for the Christian burial of the dead, often in Roman catacombs. Earliest cemetery sites can been traced back to the 15th century and have been found throughout Europe, Asia and North America in Paleolithic caves and fields of prehistoric grave mounds, or barrows. Ancient Middle Eastern practices often constructed graves grouped around religious temples and sanctuaries, while early Greek practices buried the dead along the roads leading to their cities.
Early burial grounds consisted of earthen graves, and were often unsightly and hasty places to dispose of the dead. European burial was customarily under the control of the church and took place on consecrated church ground. Though practices varied, in continental Europe, most bodies were buried in a mass grave until they had decomposed. The bones were then exhumed and stored in ossuaries either along the arcaded bounding walls of a cemetery or within the church under floor slabs and behind walls.
The majority of 15th century Christian burial ground proved unhealthily overcrowded. The first Christian examples of cemeteries outside of a churchyard were founded by Protestants in response to overcrowded churchyards and in desire to physically and spiritually separate the dead from the living, a concept often intertwined within the Roman Catholic faith. Early cemetery establishments include Kassel (1526), Marburg (1530), Geneva (1536), and Edinburgh (1562). The structure of early individual gravesites often reflected the social class grouping of the dead.
Cemetery Reform
The formation of modern cemetery structures began in 17th century India when various Europeans began burying their dead in cemetery structures and erecting vast monuments over the graves. Early examples have been found in Surat and Calcutta. In 1767, work on Calcutta’s South Park Street Cemetery was completed and included an intricate necropolis, or city of the dead, with streets of mausolea and magnificent monuments.
In the 1780’s and 1790’s similar examples were found in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Dessau, and Belfast. European elite often constructed chamber tombs within cemeteries for the stacking of family coffins. Some cemeteries also constructed a general receiving tomb for the temporary storage of bodies awaiting burial. In the early 1800’s, European cities faced major structural reforms that included the restructuring of burial grounds. In 1804, for hygienic reasons, French authorities demanded that all public cemeteries be established outside city limits. Entrusted with a project to bury the dead both sanitarily and hygienically, French architect Alexandre Brogniart designed a cemetery structure that included an English landscape-garden. His result, Mont-Louis Cemetery, would become world famous.
In 1829, similar work was completed on St. James Cemetery in Liverpool, designed to occupy a former quarry. In 1832 Glasgow’s Necropolis would follow. After the arrival of cholera in 1831, London was also forced to establish its first garden cemeteries, constructing Kensal Green in 1833, Norwood in 1837, Brompton in 1840, and Abney Park in 1840, all of which were meticulously landscaped and adorned with intricate architecture. Italian cemeteries followed a different structure, incorporating a campo santo style which proved larger than medieval prototypes. Examples include Certosa at Bologna designed in 1815, Brescia, designed in 1849, Verona, designed in 1828, and the Staglieno of Genoa designed in 1851 and incorporating neoclassical galleries and an extensive rotunda.
Over time, all major European cities were equipped with at least one reputable cemetery. In larger and more cosmopolitan areas, such cemeteries included great design. U.S. cemeteries of similar structure included Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery, designed in 1831, Phildelphia’s Laurel Hill Cemetery, designed in 1839, and New York City’s Green-wood Cemetery, designed in 1838. Many southern U.S. cemeteries, such as those in New Orleans, favored above ground tomb structures due to strong French influence. In 1855 architect Andrew Downing suggested that cemetery monuments be constructed in such a way as to not interfere with cemetery maintenance; with this, the first lawn cemetery was constructed in Cincinnati, Ohio, a burial park equipped with memorial plaques installed flush to the cemetery grounds.
Military Cemeteries
American military cemeteries developed from the duty of commanders to care for their comrades, including those that had fallen. When the casualties of the American Civil War reached incomprehensible numbers, and hospitals and burial grounds overflowed with the bodies of the dead, General Montgomery Meigs proposed that more than 200 acres be taken from the estate of General Robert E. Lee for the purposes of burying the causalities of war. What followed was the development of the Arlington National Cemetery, the first and most prestigious of war cemeteries to be erected on American soil. Today Arlington National Cemetery houses the body of any active-duty member of the Armed forces, any veteran retired from active military service, any President of former President of the United States, and any former member of the armed services to receive a Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star or Purple Heart.
Other American military cemeteries include the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, the Gettysburg National Cemetery, the Knoxville National Cemetery and the Richmond National Cemetery. Internationally, military cemeteries include the Woodlands Cemetery near Stockholm (1917), the Slovene National Cemetery in Zale (1937), the San Cataldo Cemetery in Modena (1971), and the Cemetery for the Unknown in Hiroshima, Japan (2001).
Recent Developments
The change in cemetery structure sought to re-establish the rest in peace principle. Such aesthetic cemetery design contributed to the rise of professional landscape architects and inspired the making of grand public parks. At the turn of 20th century, cremation offered a more popular though controversial option to casket burial. Acceptance of the process, an incineration reducing a corpse to ashes, grew slowly, remaining most popular in the West than in other areas of the world.
Internationally, the style of cemeteries has also varied greatly. In the United States and many European countries, modern cemeteries may use tombstones placed in open spaces. In Russia, tombstones are usually placed in small fenced family lots. This was once a common practice in American cemeteries, and such fenced family plots can still be seen in some of the earliest American cemeteries constructed.
A green burial ground, or natural burial ground, is a type of cemetery which places a corpse into the soil to naturally decompose. The first of such cemeteries was created in 1993 at the Carlisle Cemetery in the United Kingdom. The corpse is prepared without traditional preservatives, and is buried in a biodegradable casket or cloth shroud. The graves of green burials are often minimally marked as to not interfere with the landscape of the cemetery. Some green cemeteries use natural markers such as shrubs or trees to denote a gravesite. Green burials are posed as an environmentally friendly alternative to customary funeral practices.
Establishments and Regulations
Cemeteries are not governed by laws that apply to real property, though most states have established laws that specifically apply to cemetery structures. Some common regulations enforce that each grave must be set apart, marked, and distinguished. Cemetery regulations are often required by departments of public health and welfare, and may prohibit future burials in existing cemeteries, enlargement of existing cemeteries, or the establishment of new ones.
Trespassing against, destructing, vandalizing or inflicting personal injuries to a cemetery or individual burial plot are all considered criminal offenses, and can be prosecuted by the heirs of the involved plot. Large punitive damages, intended to deter further acts of desecration, may be awarded.
Cemeteries in cities also use valuable urban space, which may pose a significant problem within older cities. As historic cemeteries begin to reach their capacity for full burials, alternative memorialization, such as collective memorials for cremated individuals, is becoming more common. Different cultures have different attitudes toward the destruction of cemeteries and subsequent use of the land for construction. In some countries it is considered normal to destroy the graves, while in others the graves are traditionally respected for a century or more. In many cases, after a suitable period of time has elapsed, the headstones are removed and cemetery can be converted into a recreational park or construction site.
Family Cemeteries
While uncommon today, family or private cemeteries were a matter of practicality during the settlement of America. If a municipal or religious cemetery was not established, settlers would seek out a small plot of land, often in wooded areas bordering their fields, to begin a family plot. Sometimes, several families would arrange to bury their dead together. While some of these sites later grew into true cemeteries, many were forgotten after a family moved away or died out. Today, it is not unheard of to discover groupings of tombstones, ranging from a few to a dozen or more, on undeveloped land. Little effort is made to remove remains when developing, as they may be hundreds of years old; as a result, the tombstones are often simply removed.
More recent is the practice of families with large estates choosing to create private cemeteries in the form of burial sites, monuments, crypts, or mausoleums on their property; the mausoleum at architect Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater is an example of this practice. Burial of a body at a site may protect the location from redevelopment, such estates often being placed in the care of a trust or foundation. Presently, state regulations have made it increasingly difficult to start private cemeteries; many require a plan to care for the site in perpetuity. Private cemeteries are nearly always forbidden on incorporated residential zones.
Famous Cemeteries Worldwide
Since their 18th century reform, various cemeteries worldwide have served as international memorials, renown for their meticulous landscaping and beautiful architecture. In addition to the Arlington National Cemtery, other American masterpieces include the Wilmington National Cemetery, the Alexandria National Cemetery and the Gettysburg National Cemetery, a military park offering historic battlefield walks, living history tours and an extensive visitor center.
Parisian cemeteries of great renown include the Père Lachaise, regarded as the world’s most visited cemetery. The cemetery was established by Napoleon in 1804 and houses the graves of Oscar Wilde, Richard Wright, Jim Morrison and Auguste Comte among others. London’s Abney Park, opened in 1840, is also an international place of interest. One of London’s seven magnificent cemeteries, it is based on the design of the Arlington National Cemetery. The remaining magnificent seven include the Kensal Green Cemetery, the West Norwood Cemetery, the Highgate cemetery, the Nunhead Cemetery, the Brompton Cemetery and the Tower Hamlets Cemetery. The Egyptian periods, including the Great Pyramid of Giza marking the tomb of Egyptian Pharoh Khufu, are also well-known tourist attractions.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Curl, James Stevens. 2002. Death and Architecture. Gloucestershire: Sutton.
- Etlin, Richard A. 1984. The Architecture of Death. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Oxford University Press. Cemetery. Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
- Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Cemeteries. U.S. History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
- Thomas Gale. Cemeteries. Thomas Gale Law Encyclopedia. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
- Worpole, Ken. 2004. Last Landscapes: The Architecture of the Cemetery in the West. Reaktion Books. ISBN 186189161X
External Links
- Natural Burial Co-operative. Natural Burial Cemeteries, Canada.
- Forest of Memories. Green Burial, North America.
- Find-a-Grave. Online Virtual Cemetery.
- Cemeteries and Cemetery Symbols
- Written in Stone. Burial Locations of Literary Figures.
- London Cemetery Project: 130 cemeteries with high- quality photos.
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