Everyone, deep down within, carries a small cemetery of those he has loved.
– Romain Rolland
Humans have always built monuments to commemorate the dead.
Ancient Egyptians mummified the bodies of people and pets before entombing them in pyramids. Prehistoric Britons moved megalithic stones hundreds of miles and encircled them with grave mounds. A Chinese emperor built a vast terra cotta army to guard his tomb. Vikings constructed ships that they lit with flaming arrows before sending their dead to Valhalla. Polynesians on Rapa Nui erected massive stone moai to honor tribal ancestors.
While Robie and I can’t claim our list of cemeteries is the world’s anything, it’s unusual, thought-provoking and weird. And since our list only contains places we’ve seen, there’s plenty of room for more (note the absence of Normandy, Xi’an and the Taj Mahal). Still, we hope you enjoy this catalogue of amazing resting places and look forward to reading yours in the comments below.
Reid & Robie’s Top 10: Cemeteries
As we often do, Robie and I have added a few honorable mentions. Because a little grey makes life interesting.
The Great Wall, China – While it’s a myth that people are buried inside the Great Wall, archaeologists estimate up to 400,000 workers died during the wall’s construction earning the barrier its nickname as “the longest cemetery on earth.”
Auschwitz, Poland – While obviously not a cemetery, when more than a million people are murdered in a place and the only things left are their shoes, shorn hair and gold fillings, then the barbed wire, stone watchtowers and railroad platform that awaited them at the ended of the journey become their grave markers.
Day of the Dead, Lake Patzcuaro, Morelia, Mexico – Since the Day of the Dead isn’t a cemetery, it made the list as an honorable mention. Because otherwise, the mix of Roman Catholic traditions with pre-Colombian rituals caught between Halloween and All Soul’s Day is our favorite way to commemorate those who’ve gone before us.
Across Mexico home altars are decorated with marigold, mezcal, sweets, old photographs and pan de muerto. On Lake Patzcuaro, a procession of candle-lit boats head to three small islands carrying food for graveside meals with lost loved ones.
And now, our Top 10 Cemeteries:
No. 10 – Westminster Abbey, England – Neither a cathedral nor a parish church, Westminster Abbey is a “royal peculiar” (then again, aren’t they all?) and subject to the British sovereign. The site of every coronation since 1066, the abbey is littered with the bodies of more than 3,300 people. Notables include Sir Isaac Newton, Geoffrey Chaucer, Steven Hawking and Robert and Elizabeth Browning along with 30 kings and queens.
No. 9 – Catacombs, Paris –In the 18th century overcrowding at Parisian cemeteries led officials to excavate common graves in secret. Under the cover of darkness workers carted off the remains of more than six million people and dumped them inside old stone quarries. Today, the bones have been neatly reorganized, and the passageways are open to the public.
No. 8 – Capuchin Crypt, Rome – Not far from the Spanish Steps, this small monastery takes the Paris catacombs one step further. Inside six small rooms, Capuchin monks have fashioned macabre artworks from the bones of their deceased brothers creating altars, wall decorations and fanciful chandeliers.
The monks say their message is both spiritual and secular. By posing some skeletons in contemplative positions they honor their brethren’s life of prayer and at the same time warn the rest of us that life is fleeting.
No. 7 – Valley of the Fallen, Spain – A basilica larger than St. Peter’s commemorates Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s victory in the Spanish Civil War. Carved out of a granite outcropping in the mountains north of Madrid, the church is topped by the world’s tallest memorial cross and marks the final resting place of some 33,000 victims from the bloody, three-year war.
No. 6 – USS Arizona, Oahu, Hawaii – Honoring the 2,403 service members who gave their lives on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, the USS Arizona Memorial holds the remains of more than a thousand men from the doomed battleship.
No. 5 – Tikal, Guatemala – Encompassing nearly 360 square miles, the ancient Mayan city was once the largest in the New World. At its heart are two funerary temples for Jasaw Chan K’awiil and his wife, Lady Kalajuun Une’ Mo’. But unlike Egyptian pyramids, the Maya built their structures atop the dead, encasing them in stone.
No. 4 – Valley of the Kings, Egypt – In a wadi on the western bank of the Nile under the pyramid-shaped peak of al-Qurn lies the Theban Necropolis where for 500 years Egyptian pharaohs were laid to rest in elaborate underground vaults filled with colorfully painted scenes to help them on their journey to the afterlife.
No. 3 – Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague, Czechia – Though Hitler destroyed many Jewish synagogues and cemeteries across Czechoslovakia, he spared the 12,000 graves wedged into two-and-a-half acres at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague and planned to incorporate them – and much of Prague – into his Central Jewish Museum.
Considered the most crowded cemetery in the world and one of the oldest Jewish graveyards on the Continent, burials are layered on top of each other – some up to 10 ten deep. When more plots were needed, officials added a layer of dirt and elevated the tombstones leaving a forest of graves.
No. 2 – Great Pyramid of Khufu, Cairo, Egypt – While the entire Giza plateau is littered with cemeteries, there is perhaps no greater edifice built to honor one man’s body than the Great Pyramid. Built around 2600 BC, the structure used 2.3 million stone blocks weighing approximately 6 million tons and was mankind’s tallest structure for 3,800 years.
No. 1 – Mount Koya, Japan – Located in a remote area atop a 2,600-foot peak, Mount Koya is surrounded by eight mountains and said to resemble the petals of a lotus plant. As the resting place of the monk Kukai, it’s one of the most sacred places in Japan.
The wooded path leading to Kukai’s mausoleum winds past 10,000 eternally lit flames, wooden doors adorned with cranes and plum blossoms and a rock garden depicting two dragons emerging from a sea of clouds. And with more than 200,000 tombstones littering the mountaintop, Mount Koya is the largest cemetery in Japan.
That’s our list. Tell us your favorites!