The Traveller's Magazine
Stereotypically, graveyards are spooky and eerie places, which are often decrepit and are located in a rather shady part of town. However not all graveyards inspire that kind of reaction, in reality some are drop dead gorgeous.
Here are some of our favourites:
Assistens cemetery
The last resting place to Søren Kierkegaard, Hans Christian Andersen and other famous Danes Assistens cemetery was founded in 1760 and now holds more than 300,000 bodies.
It is also a park where locals meet after work and the weekends for fun and to relax among the lush greenery. It is located in Nørrebro, in the northwest part of the city center.
If you want to find out more things to do in Copenhagen read our article here.
The old Jewish cemetery in Prague
The old Jewish cemetery is the second oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe, founded in the 15th century, holding around 20,000 bodies. The cemetery is situated in Josefov close to old synagogues and other sights.
Jewish faith doesn’t allow dead bodies to be moved after they were buried, and Prague Jews were not allowed to be buried outside the ghetto, so the cemetery became rather crowed, resulting in people been buried on top one another (up to 12 layers.)
The Okunoin Cemetery in Japan
If you’ve booked your flight to Japan you can’t miss these historical location.
Okunoin one of the most sacred places in Japan; it is the site of Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism. He is probably the most respected and influential person in the religious history of Japan. It is believed that Kobo Daishi is in eternal meditation (rather than dead), waiting for Miroku Nyorai (Maihreya), the Buddha of the Future. Until this time, the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi is said to provide relief to those who ask for salvation.
Many monks and lords have had their tombstones erected close to Kobo Daishi’s in order to achieve salvation in death.
The Ichinohashi Bridge is located within the cemetery, it marks the traditional entrance and visitors are encouraged to bow to pay respect to Kobo Daishi.
The Merry Cemetery in Romania
This cemetery views death a little differently, instead of thinking of it as a sad event the locals see death as a celebration of a life that ended.
This sense of celebration is seen in the design of the tombstones which are colourful and carved in wood. Often they have a poem written on the stone about the person’s life, what they liked or enjoyed, or how they died. For a tourist these poems are great insights into the local people and the simple lives they lived.
