Going to the city cemetery to look at unusual tombstones is perhaps the last thing that comes to mind. However, acquaintance with them can tell a lot about the culture of the people and individual residents of the country, as well as give an unforgettable experience, not only creepy, but also positive.
So in some cemeteries you can find real masterpieces worthy of becoming museum exhibits. Others are interesting for their historical value. If you discard all superstitions and fears, you can discover something new and broaden your horizons.
The most unusual cemeteries in the world
Church of the Dead
In Urbania (Italy) is the Church of the Dead, which is famous for its collection of 18 mummies dating back to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Once the church served as a cemetery, but then Napoleon ordered the bodies to be reburied outside the city. During the move, it was revealed that the remains themselves turned into mummies.
At first, what happened was taken as a miracle, but later experts found that the secret of such natural mummification lies in a special kind of mold growing in those parts. She dried the bodies, absorbing moisture from the tissues.
The “exhibits” exhibited behind the altar of the church each have their own history, for example, there is a woman who died in childbirth, and also the rector of the brotherhood. Tourists are happy to come to see the chilling spectacle. Interestingly, for the inhabitants of Urbania, it is not considered something immoral to put the remains of people on public display. On the contrary, it is an honor. This honor is bestowed only on outstanding personalities.
Discovered in the 1920s, the Peruvian cemetery of Chauchilla dates back roughly to I-II century AD, which means that some of the remains are about 2000 years old. They probably belong to the Nazca civilization (those who created mysterious geoglyphs in the sand).
Chauchilla includes thousands of burials, but the remains are not buried, but are laid in a sitting position in open tombs, the walls of which were lined with bricks. The “facial expression” of the skeletons is also surprising - they smile. A smile sometimes looks friendly, and sometimes creepy. There is a feeling that they are waiting for someone, inviting to join.
Chauchilla's bodies can be called a "scientist's dream". They are well preserved due to the dry desert climate, as well as due to a special burial technique: the dead were dressed in cotton clothes, then poured with resin.
The discovery made it possible to learn more about the Nazca people, but the safety of this cultural heritage is under threat. Funeral structures were partially plundered and continue to be robbed by "black diggers". They are interested in jewelry and ancient artifacts that were buried with the dead.
This portal tomb is located in the Burren (Ireland). The estimated time of its creation is 4000-3000 years. BC.
The Poulnabron dolmen is a tombstone of 2 huge stone slabs of 2 m each, on top of which lies the third one. It turns out a huge stone table. During the restoration, skeletons of more than 20 people were found under the dolmen, including a newborn child. Also, various things were buried in the ground: weapons, dishes, household items.
Hanging coffins are more of a custom than a specific burial site. It is distributed in several regions: China, Indonesia and the Philippines. Instead of burying coffins in the ground, they are hung on rocks, high above the ground.
Initially, this was done to protect the bodies from animals, but over time, hanging coffins became a tradition.
La Recoleta
You can walk around this necropolis in Buenos Aires for hours, looking at the structures there. In the La Recoleta cemetery, there are no ordinary monuments, but large mausoleums that look like houses. It feels like you are walking in a small town. Each of the 6,000 mausoleums has an individual style, sometimes reminiscent of Gothic chapels or Greek temples.
People from high society were buried on La Ricoleta - presidents, politicians, writers, artists, eminent doctors. That's why the buildings look so pompous.
Neptune Memorial
The Neptune Memorial was opened in 2007 in Biscayne Bay, Florida. This is the first underwater mausoleum, which became the resting place of thousands of the dead. The idea is very original: at the bottom of the ocean, a whole city with roads, sculptures, benches was fashioned from a mixture of cement and ashes of cremated people. Reminds me of Atlantis.
But this is not just a structure, but an artificial reef. So someone's death will give new life. In addition, land area is saved.
On the roads of underwater streets there are memorial plaques with the names of the dead buried there. The area of the reef is 65,000 m 2 , but it continues to be expanded.
You can get a place in the Neptune cemetery for no less than $ 7,000. True, relatives will have to scuba dive to visit the grave of loved ones.
Unusual cemeteries and tombstones in Russia
City of dead
Often called city of the dead, the village of Dargavs (North Ossetia - Alania) is considered one of the most mysterious places in Russia. This ancient necropolis, hidden in the mountains of the Caucasus, at first glance looks like the ruins of a medieval village. Crypts with the remains of the dead look like white houses with roofs. It is only when you get closer that you realize what it really is.
According to the official version, the inhabitants of the valley buried their loved ones there. Each family had a separate crypt. The more people buried there, the higher it is. Some sources claim that the oldest crypts belong to XVI century, allegedly at that time the plague was rampant in the neighboring territories, and the village became the burial place of the dead patients.
An interesting fact: recently a new horror film was planned to be shot in Dargavs, but the inhabitants of the Republic took this news negatively, since the necropolis is sacred for them. As a result, the shooting was postponed.
This is the old necropolis of Moscow, containing a large number of tombstones that can be called works of art. In most cases, they are the creations of outstanding artists, architects and other craftsmen. The Vagankovo cemetery was founded in 1771. At first it served to bury the sick who died from the plague, then the poor were buried there.
Celebrities appeared here only in the 19th century. Now on the territory of the Vagankovsky necropolis you can find the burial places of famous Russian figures: Vladimir Vysotsky, Alexander Abdulov, Vladimir Voroshilov, Bulat Okudzhava, Oleg Dal, Sergei Yesenin. To see the most interesting places, you can book a tour with local guides.
Particularly prominent at the Vagankovsky cemetery is the grave of the famous criminal Sonya the Golden Pen. It is believed that it brings good luck and material gain. Therefore, “pilgrims” come to her (mostly representatives of the criminal world, although there are also ordinary people). They write down their requests on paper and leave them near Sonya. The statue, by the way, is missing arms and head. They say that some drunken man broke it off, trying to climb in and kiss his idol.
But people come to the grave of Vysotsky for inspiration. Some even claim that the poet in some mystical way helps them compose lyrics, poems. His monument also deserves attention: the sculptor sculpted Vysotsky from bronze, wrapped in a kind of straitjacket, and escaping from the flames. Next to him is his eternal companion - the guitar.
Yesenin's grave is notable for its sad glory. Near her, many people took their own lives, following the example of sad famous poet. And it all started with his girlfriend Galina Benislavskaya. She came to the burial place of Yesenin and shot herself in the head with a revolver. Subsequently, she was buried next to her lover.
The Vagankovsky cemetery still keeps many secrets. It is worthy to visit it and get acquainted with the history and legends of the local "residents".
Novodevichy cemetery
Another popular cemetery among Russians, which is an object of the country's cultural heritage, is Novodevichy. This is because many celebrities are buried here - N.S. Khrushchev, A.N. Tolstoy, M.A. Bulgakov, N.V. Gogol, V.I. Vernadsky and others. The monuments erected in their honor are true masterpieces.
One of the most unusual graves of the Novodevichy cemetery belongs to Yuri Nikulin, a well-known Soviet actor. The sculpture depicts Nikulin sitting with a cigarette in his hand. It reflects the simplicity and sincerity of this person.
A marble chapel was erected in memory of Chekhov. And the memorial to the recognized surgeon A.N. Bakulev, the founder of cardiovascular surgery, looks like two hands holding a large red stone - a symbol of the heart.
Original tombstones
Pere Lachaise is a large Parisian necropolis, which is visited by more than 3 million tourists annually. Why is he attractive? Père Lachaise has found the final resting place of a huge number of famous figures: from the composer Frederic Chopin to the writer Gertrude Stein and the musician Jim Morrison.
In addition, each grave has its own design. Some of them have busts of the dead on top, while others have amazing statues. For example, a sphinx carved from a 20-ton piece of wood rises above the burial place of Oscar Wilde. A memorial at the grave of musician and actor Fernand Arbelo depicts him holding his wife's face so that he can look at her face forever.
funny tombstones
In the Romanian village of Sapinta there is a cemetery called Merry. The point is unusual colored tombstones with images of scenes from the life of the deceased and a bizarre epitaph.
Such monuments turned a dull place into something cheerful, bright. Although, if you look closely at them, you will notice that the drawings and phrases engraved on the tombstones are not so joyful. For example, one of them depicts a man who was hit by a truck. The other contains the inscription "do not disturb my mother-in-law, otherwise she will bite off your head."
The monuments were carved from wood and hand-painted by a local craftsman. He continued to do this until his death in 1977, having managed to make more than 800 objects. Now the cemetery has been turned into a museum, which is popular with tourists.
It is quite natural that Jules Verne, the father of science fiction, will have an unusual monument. 2 years after his death, a sculpture was installed called "Vers l'Immortalité et l'Eternelle Jeunesse" ("Towards immortality and eternal youth"). The statue depicts the writer breaking the tombstone and exiting the crypt.
A strange procession that never moves
Surprisingly, this monument belongs to the grave of only one person - Colonel Henry G. Wooldridge. It is located in Maplewood Cemetery, Kentucky. The statues were built under the direction of the military during his lifetime. It took 7 years to create from stone all the people dear to him whom he had lost, including his mother, sisters, wife. There is also a sculpture of Henry Wooldridge's favorite horse on the grave.
Crying angel
This statue is in memory of Francis Haserot, an entrepreneur from Seattle. A seated bronze angel of human height holds an inverted torch - a symbol of extinct life. Mysticism to the angel is added by black "tears" that seem to flow from his eyes.
Unusual tombstones can be found, probably, in every cemetery. People erect in honor of their loved ones or in memory of themselves not only beautiful monuments depicting a person resting under him, but also statues in the form of cars, pieces of furniture, a theater stage, and favorite animals. There is even a tombstone with a carved computer as well as a cell phone!
scary cemeteries - the largest concentrations of people who have nothing to do with life. What could be more terrifying? And I know that: the photos of these places are real horror stories about cemeteries that are spread by legends all over the world.
1. Parisian catacombs, France
On the one hand, it is a tourist attraction, which you can easily get to by visiting the capital of France. On the other hand, there is an open cemetery. Open, I chose this word not by chance, because the skeletons and skulls of the dead are stacked one on top of the other, forming a wall.
In the overall standings, a person can see the remains of more than 6 million people underground. Not at all surprising are the numerous stories of those who saw moving clots of light, heard groans, human voices that spoke in an unfamiliar language. Esotericists claim that this is the most powerful place for the accumulation of otherworldly forces in Europe. I will write a separate, more detailed post about the catacombs, therefore, fix the address of my blog in the memory of your browser.
2. Prague Jewish Cemetery, Czech Republic
One of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the world. From the outside, it looks more like a tombstone dump. The burial place of the Jews is located in the Josef quarter in Prague. It is officially recorded that the last burial was carried out here in 1787, but not because then someone forbade burial, but because there was simply nowhere to put the corpses.
The fact is that according to documents, there are 12 thousand graves here, and more than 100 thousand people rest underground. This became possible due to the multi-storey burial, which indicates the location of several deceased at once in one small grave.
Cemetery overseers claim that at night there are healthy man can not. The plates begin to glow. Scientists claim that it's just the glow of phosphorus, which is released from the remains of the skeletons of people. Ordinary people are sure that these are ghosts. How to explain the groans and cries of pain, which are also heard at night, scientists do not yet know.
3. Recoleta, Argentina
Scary cemeteries are those that inspire horror. But in Buenos Aires, a real scary story about a cemetery rather inspires darkness. The thing is that this place is considered almost the main tourist attraction here. Previously, only rich people of Argentina were buried here, which is noticeable from the monuments, which are valuable pieces of art of their time.
But here also rests the body of the Lady in White, or, according to reports, Rufina Cambacérès. The girl was of extraordinary beauty during her lifetime, but the case shackled her body into a medical coma. Given the little medical knowledge at the time about such a physical condition, Rufina was buried alive. She came to her senses when she was already walled up with a concrete slab, started screaming and calling for help. By the time the coffin with her body was opened, she had already suffocated from lack of air and was buried again.
The cemetery guard, who dreamed of receiving the honor of being buried next to Rufina, walled himself up in the grave next to the girl, and thus was martyred. Many saw the image of Rufina between the monuments of the cemetery, she walks between the graves and suffocates, begging to get her out of the ground. And behind her is the same guard who makes sure that the ghosts also keep order.
4. Bachelor's Grove, USA
Chicago is famous not only for its musicals, but also for the legendary "Bachelor's Cemetery". If you are looking for scary cemeteries, then you should try this place. The guards, who are replaced here almost every month, tell real scary stories about the cemetery.
One day, the Chicago authorities decided to conduct an experiment here. From different sides of the cemetery, they put a new employee and gave him a voice recorder, into which he was ordered to dictate everything he saw, even if it went beyond common sense. How surprised everyone involved in such an experiment was when 4 law enforcement officers who did not know each other told in their notes about what they saw at the same time of the night: about a woman with a child in her arms, about the sound of a passing harnessed carriage, and also about monks who walked around the cemetery three times with candles in their hands, constantly whispering words in an unfamiliar language.
5. Ganges, India
“What does the river have to do with it?”, you rightly notice. But this is the largest cemetery in India, because until today the Hindus have a tradition of burying the bodies of the dead in the water. Varanasi is famous for the most ardent adherence to this ancient tradition.
The corpses of dead people are placed on the shore and set on fire, and everything that has not burned out is pushed to swim along the Ganges. Surprisingly, the river is not closed for swimming of the living. Very often, tourists capture terrible things in the photo: children swim in the river, and unburned parts of the body of the deceased swim past them.
6. Stull Cemetery, Kansas
If you create a top based on the ratings of real scary stories about the cemetery, then the most reliable leader will definitely be the Stull cemetery, which is located in Kansas City. Firstly, the very place chosen for burials causes frost on the skin. Secondly, esotericists claim that this is the most powerful place for the accumulation of the paranormal in the world.
Scientists made special measurements in this area and are sure that Stull is located at the break of energy areas, which is why the clock stops here, no equipment works and a person can get lost between three crosses.
According to the stories, it is here that witchers and sorceresses receive their blessing from the devil, and if you make a conventional sign (which only the elite know), then you can safely go to another world and return from there already “reflashed” person. Inside the cemetery there is a collapsed church, in which a burning light was repeatedly seen, and even the ringing of bells was heard, which, in principle, never existed here.
7. Cemetery for the feebleminded, USA
This strange burial is located in Ohio. It is distinguished by the fact that a clearing with even rows of small tombstones of the same size opens up to the eye. It would seem that there is nothing surprising, because in America it is customary to organize burial places in this way. But if you look at the plates, you can only see the inscription “Sample” and the serial number.
It was the “samples” that were the patients of the State Institute for the Demented in Ohio. Simply put, this is a typical mental hospital in which medical experiments were performed on people. All documents that had data about a person were destroyed when they entered this institution, the patient was given a number and periodically tested new medications on him. With a clear frequency, strange fires occurred at the institute, in which all the results of one or another test disappeared.
But the essence of my story is in the cemetery, which is considered the most terrible in the region of Colombia (and, for sure, in the world). Esotericists claim that the buried people did not die a natural death, and their souls cannot understand what kind of world they are in. Thus, they try to explain the phenomenon that graves migrate. The overseers of the cemetery claim that the buried places are moving: from the moment of burial, they move at a speed that allows them to distinguish the space they have traveled even in a day. Maybe you want to visit this place and witness this unnatural fact?
8. Cemetery behind glass, Italy
Chiesa del Morti, or in our opinion - the Church of the Dead, is the name of the burial place of the monks, which differs significantly from all other classical burials. Its whole essence lies in the fact that the remains of the members of the “Good Death” brotherhood, which still exists at this church in the town of Urbino, in Italy, are located in glass niches.
All that remains of a member of the brotherhood is revealed to the gaze of a person, and at the head is the dressed skeleton of the founder. To say it's creepy is an understatement. 18 mummies, as it were, guard the ideology of the brotherhood, which you can learn more about by visiting this strange institution. They will immediately tell you why these 18 people were honored to be buried in such an unusual way.
9. Hanging Cemetery, Philippines
The Igorot tribe, which is of great importance for the history of the Philippines, believed that it was easier for the soul to reach the sky when the body was above the earth. It was they who invented the coffins with the bodies of the dead to tie rocks to the wall, and leave them like that forever. Over time, the sheer cliffs turned into a whole memorial, on which the remains of the dead Filipinos were located in rows.
It is difficult for a sane person to look at this accumulation of darkness, just as it is difficult to physically be in this place, since the corpses decompose, which entails all the ensuing consequences.
10. Highgate Cemetery, London
But Highgate Cemetery, which is located in the outskirts of London, is perhaps the most legendary and most visited in the world. The thing is that there are a huge number of legends about ghouls, who allegedly previously found refuge here. A huge number of tombstones are marked with the letter V, which, according to legend, means "the resting place of the vampire." People are sure that if you knock on the slab three times and read the inscription from the monument loudly, you will be able to see the ghost of the deceased nearby.
But all this seems like childish horror stories against the backdrop of statistics. It is Highgate London Cemetery that is the most opened in the world. This means that despite the fact that the cemetery is open only for tourist routes and has not been used for its intended purpose for a long time, open fresh graves and skeletal remains dug to the surface of the earth are still found here to this day.
In addition, in the English archives one can find documentary evidence of numerous exhumations, which indicate the presence of skulls with "atypical sizes of fangs in the jaw." This ancient cemetery has a huge number of crypts, because at the time when this place was used for burials, nobles and wealthy people were buried in family crypts. Due to the fact that they are often quite roomy and have a decent area, these tombs have excellent acoustics inside. The cemetery security assures that if you stay overnight and watch what is happening, then no one else will have the desire to walk around this place even during the day ...
Scary cemeteries or just real scary stories about cemeteries - this is a huge layer of facts to study. It is a fact that these are special places that, by their very nature, cannot radiate positivity and positive energy. But how to relate to certain stories is up to you.
Some ancient cemeteries and tombstones can be safely included in the list of the cultural heritage of mankind, because they are unique works of art. On one of the monuments, which testified to the place of burial of monks at a Buddhist monastery, there is an inscription: “We were like you. You will become like us.” Interesting? Then remember the address of my blog, because I try to collect in it all the most mystical and unusual things that we should remember. I will be glad to receive feedback.
I propose to take a walk around the Novodevichy cemetery, which is located on the territory of the current Resurrection Novodevichy Convent. Many do not even suspect the existence of the Novodevichy cemetery in St. Petersburg, believing that a cemetery and a monastery under this name exist only in Moscow. Nevertheless, today the St. Petersburg Novodevichy Cemetery is beginning to revive, tombstones are being restored here, interesting excursions are being conducted (both ordinary tourist and special pilgrimage ones), and that’s it. more people learn about this place.
Before the revolution, the Novodevichy Cemetery was one of the most expensive and prestigious in St. Petersburg, and although it suffered greatly during the Soviet period, it remains a valuable historical necropolis to this day. A walk around the Novodevichy cemetery will be of interest both to those who like to study the biographies of prominent people, and to connoisseurs of artistic tombstones. There are also shrines here, where people come to pray or just make a wish. About famous people buried on Novodevichy cemetery, can be read in a separate note. In the meantime, we will talk about the most beautiful and unusual tombstones of the Novodevichy cemetery, and also get acquainted with its history (and the history of the monastery itself).
The most beautiful and unusual tombstones of the Novodevichy cemetery in St. Petersburg
Among the tombstones at the Novodevichy Cemetery there are sarcophagi, obelisks, slabs, steles with crosses, pedestals, hills with large chips, monuments in the form of an oncoming wave, chapels, miniature churches ... busts, bas-reliefs and other similar details suffered during the destruction of the cemetery in the first place.
Although a significant part of the pre-revolutionary burials has not survived to this day, we can still admire the surviving monuments of the 19th - early 20th centuries, which are of undoubted historical and artistic value.
Many headstones are made from valuable materials, including rare marbles and granites. On some, you can still read the names of the owners of the workshops where they were made.
From the point of view of artistic merit, family chapels-tombs stand out especially.
Unfortunately, all of them are ruined and are unlikely to be restored to their former splendor, however, even today they amaze with the quality and variety of design.
Perhaps the most beautiful is the Art Nouveau tomb of Lucia Gilse Van der Pals, née Johansen.
The massive chapel with a decorative frieze is a stylization of an ancient Egyptian tomb.
The tomb was built in 1904 according to the design of the architect V. Yu. Johansen in the workshop of Yu. P. Korsak. Its walls are made of Radom sandstone, the plinth is made of granite, and the floor is marble.
Inside the tomb, a marble bas-relief by the Piedmontese sculptor Pietro Canonica (1869-1959) (sometimes spelled "Canonicus" or "Canonico") has survived. For my long life the master managed to work fruitfully in Russia, Italy, England, Turkey ... Not everyone knows that once on Manezhnaya Square in St. Petersburg there was an equestrian monument to Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich by Pietro Canonica (1914). In 1918, the “ugly idol” was demolished, however, in the House-Museum of Canonica, in the Villa Borghese park in Rome, to this day you can see the models created for the monument. From other works of Canonica, we know the sculpture of the nun "After taking the vow" (currently one of the options is on display at the St. Petersburg Museum of the History of Religion).
Buried in such an exquisite chapel, Lucia (Lucy) was the daughter of a Danish professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Julius Johansen, and the wife of a Dutch consul, co-director of the Russian-American Manufactory of Rubber Products (the future Red Triangle), philanthropist and philanthropist Heinrich van Gilse van der Pals. Many people are familiar with the luxurious mansion of G. G. Gilze van der Pals on English Avenue (the current military enlistment office). The mansion was built by Lucia's brother, the architect William Yulievich Johansen (who, as was said, designed this magnificent tombstone). From old photographs it can be seen that the rooms of the mansion were decorated with marble statues by Pietro Canonica, including the mentioned figure of a nun. Apparently, Gilse van der Pals was a connoisseur of the work of Canonica, so it is not surprising that he entrusted him with the sculptural decoration of the grave of his beloved wife.
Another interesting burial place from the point of view of artistic merit is the grave of the artillery general Dmitry Sergeevich Mordvinov (1820-1894). This is undoubtedly one of the most famous and beautiful tombstones of the St. Petersburg Novodevichy cemetery. Unfortunately, the side plates with the name of the buried person have been lost, but the artistic metal fence has survived.
The most remarkable detail of the gravestone is the bronze figure of a seated angel over a marble sarcophagus. A live flower is often placed in the hand of an angel.
The sculpture of an angel was created in the workshop of the French sculptor and artist Charles Berto (Karl Avgustovich Berto) (Charles Bertault). Petersburg bronze foundry Berto (former F. Chopin) specialized in the production of small bronze plastics. For participation in the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, where the products of the factory were awarded a gold medal, Berto received the title of "Supplier of the Court of His Imperial Majesty." Despite this, due to financial difficulties, after two years he had to close the case and return to France.
Sculptural monuments with marble or bronze figures of angels standing or sitting at the tombstone were very common at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, but few such examples have survived to this day. Therefore, despite the fact that we have before us just a “typical” sample, not related to the individuality of the customer, the tombstone is perceived as a great value.
As for the identity of D.S. Mordvinov buried here, it is known that he served in the artillery from a young age. In 1856 he was appointed head of a separate office of the War Office, and ten years later he became director of the office of the War Office, to which he devoted almost half of his many years of service. In 1872, Mordvinov was granted the adjutant general to His Imperial Majesty; in 1881 he was appointed a member of the Military Council and awarded with diamond badges of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. In 1883, Mordvinov was promoted to artillery general, and in 1889 he celebrated his 50th anniversary of service in the officer ranks and received the Order of St. Vladimir, 1st degree.
It is also worth paying attention to the tombstone of the St. Petersburg architect, who, however, is not very well known to the public. This is Ivan Denisovich Chernik (1811-1874), who worked in the military department and built, in particular, the new building of the General Staff and the Kryukov (Naval) barracks.
The burial of I. D. Chernik is one of the most beautiful surviving monuments at the Novodevichy cemetery. It is a magnificent white marble sarcophagus on a high pedestal. The board with the epitaph and the name of the deceased has not been preserved, but the bas-relief portraits of I. D. Chernik himself and his wife have survived (the latter, unfortunately, was damaged by vandals and cannot be restored due to the specifics of Carrara marble.
The monument was made in the workshop of the Italian sculptor Domenico Carli in Genoa (1878).
One of the most unusual burials at the Novodevichy Cemetery is the grave of a mathematician, professor Vladimir Pavlovich Maksimovich (1850-1889).
Maksimovich was born in St. Petersburg into a noble family and from an early age had outstanding mathematical abilities. Studied in St. Petersburg and Paris, worked at Kazan and Kiev universities. At the beginning of 1889, the mathematician was diagnosed with a severe mental illness, and in the same year he died at the age of 39.
The tombstone of Vladimir Maksimovich is a stone sphere in an artistic metal fence. On the sphere - images of the signs of the zodiac and a quote from Byron's poem "Ephthanasia" (Euthanasia) on English language (« Count o "er the joys thine hours have seen...»).
This poem is known in the translations of I. Goltz-Miller and V. Levik (in the arrangement of the latter, this quatrain sounds like this: “He is close, the day calling for the feast, || Count the blessings of past days, || And you will understand: whoever you were in life, || Not to be, not to live - much more truly").
To be continued...
In fact, people are scared in most cemeteries, because this is the place where they remember death, including their own death. But these cemeteries are teeming with ghost stories and odd facts! Want to tickle your nerves? That way.
You might be surprised that the first cemetery photo on this list is of an airport. However, this is really a cemetery! Beneath runway number 10 are the graves of the Dotson couple, a married couple who used to live in a house on the site of the airport and were buried in the area next to it. The airport repeatedly negotiated with Dotson's relatives about the transfer of the remains, but they did not agree, and without the consent of relatives in the United States, this is not allowed.
The architectural splendor of the Recoleta cemetery is amazing, but it was not included in this list because of it, but because of a number of terrible and unusual stories about those who are buried there: next to the grave of Evita Peron, on which there are always fresh flowers, Rufina Cambáceres is buried , a girl who was buried alive and came out of a coma right in the coffin, and David Alleno, a poor gravedigger who saved money for a burial site for thirty years, and having saved up, committed suicide.
We are used to the fact that cemeteries are underground, but the Filipino Igorot tribe buries their dead ... in the air. Cemeteries always hang over the heads of people from this tribe. For example, this rock covered with coffins looks creepy!
This cemetery is a popular tourist attraction in the Romanian village of Sapinta. The monuments of the cemetery, painted in bright colors, take us away from the mourning atmosphere of the place, and the epitaphs on them can be both funny and even satirical.
This is perhaps one of the most famous cemeteries in England. Every crypt and every statue here is an architectural masterpiece. But, beyond that, the graveyard is known for its abundance of ghosts - for example, a tall Highgate vampire with a hypnotic gaze. Another famous ghost is a crazy woman running around the cemetery looking for the children she killed.
Greyfriars Cemetery is an old cemetery with a rich history. It was founded in the 1560s. at the local jail. Of the 1200 prisoners, only 257 left it alive - the rest remained here forever. Now a rare brave man will dare to enter the gates of Greyfriars at night - the souls of the innocently killed will not give him rest.
People are afraid to visit even ordinary cemeteries. What would you say about the whole island of the dead? He is in Venice! When it was found that burials in the main territory of Venice lead to unsanitary conditions, the dead began to be taken out to San Michele. This is still done in a gondola specially designated for this.
The mining towns of La Noria and Humberstone are located in the middle of the desert in Chile. The history of these towns is a terrible story about the violence of the masters over their slave miners. Sometimes they were simply brutally killed, not sparing even the children. They were buried in the cemetery of La Noria; now, when you are in this cemetery, the feeling of the otherworldly environment around does not leave. There are many open and dug graves in the cemetery, from which skeletons even show up!
4. Chiesa dei Morti (Church of the Dead), Urbino, Italy
The Church of the Dead is famous not only for its big name, but also for the exposition of mummies. Behind the classic baroque arch, you have a great view of most of them. Each of the 18 preserved mummies is in its own alcove. The church was built, which is characteristic, the Brotherhood of the Good Death.
3. Bachelors Grove Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, USA
This place is legendary as one of the most haunted cemeteries in America. Eyewitnesses confirm the appearance of strange figures in the cemetery. One of the famous ghosts is a white lady with a child in her arms. Also in the 1950s so many visitors to the cemetery have reported a ghostly house. In addition, a farmer with a horse appeared in the cemetery, killed nearby, and a black dog.
The number of "inhabitants" of the catacombs of Paris is almost three times the number of Parisians living above - almost 6 million corpses are buried here. The ebullient life of the chic "upper Paris" is terribly different from the gloomy city of the dead underground. Here you can find whole corridors of skulls and bones. The Parisian catacombs are huge, and no one knows how confusing their labyrinth is: it is quite possible to get lost here forever.
The Crypt of the Capuchins are 6 rooms located under the church of Santa Maria della Concezione in Italy. It contains 3,700 skeletons of monks of the Capuchin brotherhood. When their remains were brought here in 1631, they took 300 wagons and were buried in earth specially brought from Jerusalem. After 30 years, the remains were exhumed and displayed in the hall. But the worst thing is not the mummies themselves, but the “message of the brotherhood”, translated into 5 languages: “We were what you are. You will be what we are."
Grieving relatives are doing everything to perpetuate the memory of the deceased loved ones, turning ordinary gravestones either into something very allegorical or into sculptures that are real works of art.
Grieving relatives do everything to perpetuate the memory of the deceased loved ones, turning ordinary gravestones either into something very allegorical or into sculptures that are real works of art:
1. Woman at the piano. She may have been a musician during her lifetime
2. This woman was very fond of Mickey Mouse
3. Maybe this guy died because he smoked too much?
4. The grave of the creator of the labyrinth
5. "Eternal sleep"
6. A tree swallowed up an old grave
7. Tombstone over the grave of the inventor of the gas lamp Charles Pigeon, Montparnasse Cemetery, Paris, France
8. Such a grave was made at the behest of a heartbroken mother for her late 10-year-old daughter in 1871.
When the girl was alive, she was terrified of thunderstorms. Next to her grave is a special basement, which was dug to the level of the coffin. During a thunderstorm, the girl's mother went down to the basement to "calm down" her child.
Source 9The life-size statue of a girl under a glass jar was custom-made at the request of her mother.
10. This is the grave of a 16-year-old girl. The headstone was commissioned by her sister.
11. "Love to the grave", Thailand
12. This monument depicts the Savior, who holds in his hands two ropes from a simple children's swing with a crossbar.
A little girl sits on a swing below. The sculptural composition reminds that the life of everyone on earth is in the hands of God.
13. A tombstone in the form of a mobile phone was found in one of the Israeli cemeteries.
Various inscriptions are engraved on the tombstone, for example: "Please leave a message - I will reply as soon as I can"
14. "Together Forever"
15. This terrifying grave is located in a cemetery in Genoa, Italy
16. The grave of the Belgian writer Georges Rodenbach.The headstone represents the writer himself, rising from the grave with a rose in his hand.
17. The design of this Victorian-era grave serves to ensure that the dead do not leave their final resting place.
Many in those days firmly believed in the existence of vampires and thus prevented the release of the reincarnated dead. In fact, medical students needed corpses to study anatomy, and for the sake of gaining knowledge, they did not disdain excavating fresh graves. To secure the attempt on the deceased, relatives ordered forged gratings on the graves of loved ones.
18. Nature is relentless...
19. Fernand Arbelote was a musician and actor who died in 1990.
He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. During his lifetime, Fernand wished to forever look at the face of his wife.
20. Tombstone of the 18th century, under which rests a French journalist
21. Gravestone in the form of a board for playing scrabble
22. The graves of a Catholic woman and her Protestant husband, who were not allowed to be buried together
In the 1800s, it was forbidden to bury Catholics and Protestants in the same cemetery.
23. This grave is all that remains of an old rural cemetery in India.
A state highway was built on the site of the cemetery. The grandson, whose grandmother was buried there, refused to move the grave. In the end, the authorities went to meet him and built a road around the grave.
