Underwater Cemetery (Miami, USA)
The Neptune Memorial Reef also
known as the Atlantis Memorial Reef or the Atlantis Reef is an
underwater mausoleum for cremated remains and the world's largest
man-made reef (covering over 600,000 square feet (56,000 m²) of ocean
floor). The place was chosen at 3.25 miles (either 6.0 km or 5.2 km) off
the coast of Key Biscayne, Florida. It is a type of burial at sea and
the first phase is estimated to be able to accommodate 850 remains, with
an eventual goal of more than 125,000 remains. The man-made reef,
located three miles (5 km) off the coast of Florida's
Key Largo,
opened in 2007 after a number of difficulties, including permits. The
reef stretches across 16 acres (65,000 m2) of ocean floor designed as
both a home for sea life and "a destination for divers". Cremated
remains are mixed into different structures and columns.
Among
its residents: 86-year-old Edith Hink of Naples who passed away last
year. Her family decided she loved the water so much, they'd try
something new. Hink was cremated and buried at the underwater cemetery
off the coast of
Miami Beach.
(Link | Via)
Sucre's General Cemetery (Bolivia)
In Bolivia, at the Sucre's Cementerio General, the family pays for a
vault upon their loved one's demise: $10,000 for seven years. After
those seven years are up, the deceased's corpse is moved from the vault
into the ground. And after twenty years in the ground, the remains are
removed entirely. Seems kind of harsh, but still: there are probably
very few people whose deaths need more than 27 years of mourning.
Men
are often buried with their workmates, betraying how tightly bound a
Bolivian's identity is to his profession. Here, they're not so much
family men who happen to work as
truck drivers; they're truck drivers
who happen to have a family. In Sucre's cemetery, large common vaults
owned by unions — coal miners, lawyers and teachers among them — occupy a
lot of ground. Likewise, children aren't buried with their parents, but
with other children under a large hill of white graves, which is both
beautiful and sad. The kids' shrines are filled with
Disney characters,
coke bottles,
toys and poems. Adults, too, have shrines filled with the things they
loved — often tiny liquor bottles, or a pack of cigarettes.
There's
a lot of history in Sucre's cemetery, as well. Among the many
presidents buried here is Hilarión Daza, who sparked the disastrous War
of the Pacific with Chile, which cost Bolivia its coastline.
(Link)
The Merry Cemetery (Romania)
The original character of the cemetery is first of all suggested by its
name: Cimitirul Vesel that means The Merry Cemetery. This paradoxical
name is due to the vivid colours of the crosses and the amusing or
satirical epitaphs carved on them. It is said that this joyful attitude
towards death is a legacy of the Dacians who believed in the immortality
of the soul and that death was only a
passage to a better life. They did not see death as a tragic end, but as a chance to meet with the supreme god, Zalmoxis.
The
cemetery dates back to the mid-1930′s and is the creation of the local
folk artist Stan Ioan Patras, sculptor, painter and poet rolled in one.
Patras used all his skills to create colourful tombstones with naïve
paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the persons that
are buried there as well as scenes from their lives.
(Link)
City Of The Dead (North Ossetia)
Christian churches, agricultural
prosperity and a magnificent ancient necropolis, known as the City of
the Dead attract tourists from all over Russia. The village of Dargavs,
or as the locals call it, the City of the Dead, has a cemetery with
almost 100 ancient stone crypts where people that lived in the valley
buried their loved ones along with clothes and belongings.
The
first mention about the City of the Dead dates back to the beginning of
the 14th Century. The ancestors of Ossetians settled down on the five
mountain ridges, but the land was so expensive they were forced to
choose the windiest and most unserviceable place for their cemetery. In
the times of the plague many people, with no one left to bury them,
would come to the crypt and wait for their death.
(Link)
Newgrange (Ireland)
Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland, was constructed over 5,000 years ago
(about 3,200 B.C.), making it older than Stonehenge in England and the
Great Pyramid
of Giza in Egypt. The Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange was built
about 3200 BC. The kidney shaped mound covers an area of over one acre
and is surrounded by 97 kerbstones, some of which are richly decorated
with megalithic art. The 19 meter long inner passage leads to a
cruciform chamber with a corbelled roof. It is estimated that the
construction of the Passage Tomb at Newgrange would have taken a work
force of 300 at least 20 years.
(Link 1 | Link 2)
Small River Cemetery No. 5 (Xinjiang, China)
In the middle of a terrifying desert north of Tibet, Chinese
archaeologists have excavated an extraordinary cemetery. Its inhabitants
died almost 4,000 years ago, yet their bodies have been well preserved
by the dry air.
The cemetery lies in what is now China's
northwest province of Xinjiang, yet the people have European features,
with brown hair and long noses. Their remains, though lying in one of
the world's largest deserts, are buried in upside-down boats. And where
tombstones might stand, declaring pious hope for some god's mercy in the
afterlife, their cemetery sports instead a vigorous forest of phallic
symbols, signaling an intense interest in the pleasures or utility of
procreation.
(Link)
Wadi-us-Salaam (Iraq)
Wadi-us-Salaam (Valley of Peace) is the largest Islamic cemetery, and
one of the largest cemeteries in the world. Located in Najaf, Iraq, this
cemetery holds the graves of many Prophets, and is located near the
Holy
Tomb of Hazrat Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib (as).
The cemetery covers 1485.5 acres (6 km²) and contains approximately 5 million bodies.
(Link)
Hanging Coffins (Philippines)
About six hours by bus from the Luzon island town of Banaue, north of
Manila, the people of Sagada have devised a unique burial ritual
involving the placement of dead relatives into caves after carefully
preparing a hollowed out log. These coffins are carved by the elderly
before they die; if they are too ill or weak their son or other close
relative will do it for them. This ritual involves pushing the bodies
into the tight spaces of the coffins, and often bones are cracked and
broken as the process is completed.
After the deceased are put
inside these coffins they are then brought to caves high in the cliffs
where they join the coffins of other ancestors. The Segada people prefer
to be buried in the cliffs than to be buried in the ground and have
been doing this for more than 2,000 years.
(Link 1 | Link 2)
La Recoleta Cemetery (Argentina)
La Recoleta Cemetery is a famous cemetery located in the exclusive
Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the
graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, Raúl Alfonsín, and
several
presidents of Argentina.
Recoleta Cemetery is both an outstanding cemetery and a highly valuable
architectonic piece. It is a true outdoors art gallery, a unique
exhibition of different architectonic styles and sculptures. In 1946,
Recoleta Cemetery was declared National Historic Museum, since, among
its little streets, we can find the graves of
national heroes, Argentine presidents, brave soldiers, great scientists, and renowned artists and celebrities.
(Link)
Single Woman's Churchyard (England)
The Cross Bones Graveyard is an unusual cemetery located in the United
Kingdom. It is a post-medieval disused burial ground in London, England.
Originally, this graveyard was established as an unconsecrated
graveyard for ‘single women,' a euphemism for prostitutes and was known
as the ‘Single Woman's Churchyard'. It had become a pauper's cemetery in
1769. It is believed that more than 15,000 people have been buried
there.
(Link)
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