Tourists who appreciate architecture and unusual works of art, as well as quiet, contemplative retreats, can find a lot of interesting things for themselves at cemeteries around the world.
The quiet beauty of the famous Père Lachaise in Paris, the aristocratic La Recoleta in Buenos Aires and the mysterious Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague will be appreciated even by those who are not fans of mystical tourism. These eerie open-air museums have long turned into sights with millions of visitors a year.
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Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris is perhaps the most famous cemetery in the world. Celebrities such as Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt and Amedeo Modigliani are buried here.
The Merry Cemetery (Cimitirul Vesel) is a cemetery in the village of Săpânța, Maramureş county, Romania. It is famous for its colourful tombstones with naïve paintings that originally and poetically describe the people who were laid to rest here, depicting scenes from their lives. The Merry Cemetery has become an open-air museum and a national tourist attraction.
La Recoleta Cemetery (Cementerio de la Recoleta) is a cemetery located in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize laureates, the founder of the Argentine Navy and Napoleon's granddaughter.
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Morbid Beauty: Old and Spooky Cemeteries Across the World
Monumental sculptures guard many of the graves, transforming Lychakiv Cemetery into an open-air fine art museum.
Sucre’s General Cemetery, the most prestigious cemetery in Bolivia has beautiful, wide-open pathways, with trees lining each side and cool, shaded spots, and benches scattered benches along the cemetery's lawns.
The Old Jewish Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery in Prague, the Czech Republic, which is one of the largest of its kind in Europe, and one of the most important Jewish historical monuments in Prague. It served its purpose from the first half of the 15th century until 1786. Renowned members of the local Jewish community were buried here; among them Rabbi Jehuda Liva ben Becalel – Maharal (ca. 1526–1609), businessman Mordecai Meisel (1528–1601), historian David Gans (ca. 1541–1613) and Rabbi David Oppenheim (1664–1736). Today the cemetery is administered by the Jewish Museum in Prague.
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Jewish section of historic Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah. The gate is in accordance with Jewish tradition and the cemetery remains in use today.
Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves on the grounds of the West Cemetery and East Cemetery at Highgate. The cemetery is noteworthy both for some of its residents, as well as for its de facto status as a nature reserve. The Cemetery is designated Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It is one of the 'Magnificent Seven' cemeteries in London.
The modernist cemetery at Lloret de Mar was designed at the end of the 19th century and built over the next few years up until the early 20th century.
The Cimitero Monumentale is one of the two largest cemeteries in Milan, Italy, the other one being the Cimitero Maggiore. It is noted for its abundance of artistic tombs and monuments. Designed by the architect Carlo Maciachini (1818–1899), it was designed to consolidate a number of smaller cemeteries that used to be scattered around the city, into a single location.
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Soldiers graves at the Powazki Military Cemetery in Warsaw, Poland. Powazki Cemetery is one of the oldest and most famous cemeteries in Warsaw. There are a number of Polish senior officers laid to rest here, and it is the burial place of many illustrious individuals from Polish history.
