My article tells you about the most famous cemeteries in the world.
Every major city has a kind of grandiose graveyard. Often come across these cities, "the dead" in our travels – usually a centuries old walls swath of greenery and limestone on the outskirts of the city, with leafy trees often lower than the corresponding rickety headstones and larger than life sculptures of angels to invite others in the 19th century, before the age of the public park, cemeteries doubled as attractive placesfor families to spend the day relaxing and eating in the tranquil landscape.
And while the park has become a destination for outdoor recreation, the unlikely charm of the cemetery persists. But the cemetery enthusiasts have a different motivation: to dive in an environment that is both painful and placid, a place that offers a harmonious blend of nature and art, history and horticulture all wrapped up in an area confined. And if this were not enough, a visit to our favorite expertscemeteries ensures a comment by celebrities – in the form of a gravestone, of course – almost every time.
The ultimate cemetery as a tourist destination is Paris Pere Lachaise. Most travelers put this 118-acre cemetery on the "must see" itinerary because of its famous inhabitants: Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Honoré de Balzac, Marcel Proust, Alice B. Toklas, Richard Wright and, of course, Jim Morrison. But for Marilyn Yalom, author of the recently published book "The AmericanResting place: 400 years of history through the cemeteries of our cemeteries, "the meaning of cemetery marker is that Paris has become the archetype of the 19th century." Pere Lachaise is and was the model for all the rural cemeteries built in the United States since 1831, "says Yalom. It was the first big cemetery outside the city walls of Paris. And this was the first time that the cemeteries were just making the transition from city center cemetery to garden or rural cemetery. "
ThePere-Lachaise cemetery first, as the United States – and still one of the most beautiful – was Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass.: "I like to walk there," says Yalom, who notes that Mt. Auburn is one of his favorites among the hundreds who came. "I see trees and many writers and thinkers are buried there." Buckminster Fuller, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and BF Skinner are a few of the longtime residents.
For Jon Berendt, author of the bestsellerBook "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and "City of Falling Angels, cemeteries have a philosophical significance." Cemeteries are fascinating, "he said. "They are a living culture, history, the passion of the civilization that deposits its dead there is a spiritual link with the past." For that reason, Berendt says he always stops at the local cemetery when he is looking for a book. "If you really want to make history and people and famousfamilies, go to the cemetery. "
And that's exactly what he did when we came to Venice to pen "City of Falling Angels". Venice's main cemetery, San Michele, located on an island just minutes vaparetto of Venice, is nicknamed the "Island of the Dead." It is better appreciated for what is not there: living organisms. When the Saint – Marc is filled with masses of tourists, San Michele is the place of peace and tranquility. E 'mystical and evocative, "says Berendt, mentioningcrammed-together headstones and the cypress tall (an obligatory staple for any Italian cemetery). "And you can see the graves of Ezra Pound, Igor Stravinsky, and Joseph Brodsky.
The old Jewish cemetery in Prague in May did not have the names you've heard, but the cemetery of the 15th century is one of the most fascinating cemeteries on the planet. The 12,000 corpses crammed into a block-long space have forced the tombstones, tall and thin to tilt in all directions. Also happens to bea favorite of award-winning Irish writer John Banville, who wrote a travel book on the Czech capital, Prague Pictures: A Portrait of the city. " "I suspect that much of the charm of the old Jewish cemetery," says Banville, "is how one is stuck in the modern city, a memento mori and a memento vitae. And, of course, is one of the most sad eeriest urban sites I know.
In Buenos Aires, there may be one grave – that of Eva Peron – which draws countless tourists to LaRecoleta Cemetery, but Tony Perrottet says the real appeal is everywhere. "In reality, the journey to Peron's tomb is the most amazing of La Recoleta," says the author of "Soldiers of Napoleon: 2500 years of history unzipped. When Perrottet worked as a foreign correspondent, had often spend much time here to see a little "tranquility and elegance of the place." You walk past these angels in marble and giant statues of children which had been torn from his mother's side cruellyfate. I think the atmosphere of the place is very attractive. "
Back on American soil, the cemetery's most famous country is Arlington National Cemetery. Marilyn Yalom says it is not to be missed. "There is another reason why someone would come here than, say, Pere Lachaise," said the mass cemetery just outside Washington, DC "People will see the grave of John F. Kennedy, but with the graves of about 360,000 veterans, there is nothing like it inUnited States. One can not help feeling a sense of American history and patriotism. "
Less known but equally disturbing is St. New Orleans' Louis Cemetery # 1. Founded in 1789, just outside the French Quarter, this graveyard might be one of the most evocative of the United States. "Many people are drawn to cemeteries like St. Louis because our burial customs are different from those practiced in other parts of the country," says Lora Williams, coordinator of programs for major manufacturersEasy-based Save Our Cemeteries. And he's right: the tombs on the surface seem to confuse the little houses, giving new meaning to the term "city of the dead." The cemetery became famous when he appeared in the film by Dennis Hopper in 1969's "Easy Rider" and was one of the most emblematic cemeteries and favorite in the U.S. all the time.
