Graveyards have always been an unavoidable part of society. The civilized people have always tried to honor their dead relatives or family members to preserve their memories. The ancient tombs were made rich with architectural designs that are still capable of attracting people for a visit. The unusual travel practices of people have resulted in their visits to unconventional cemeteries. People visit graveyards to take a breath of the history or pay their last honor to their favorite personalities who rest in the graveyards. The modern day cemeteries are well designed and made attractive for the visitors. The cemeteries not only describe about the death of a person, it also describes how they used to live.
There are a number of graveyards all around the world that are worth visiting. Let us discuss few of those fascinating graveyards.
Neptune Memorial Reef
Neptune Memorial Reef is an underwater cemetery located in Miami, USA. It is also called Atlantis Memorial Reef or the Atlantis Reef and this is the largest manmade reef in the world till date. It is spread over 600,000 square feet in sea bed with a length of 3.25 miles over a stretch of 16 acres. At the early stage of construction, the graveyard was planned to accommodate 850 remains. However, the ultimate goal was to accommodate more than 125,000 remains. The burial place was unveiled in 2007 after crossing various huddles from various sectors. Getting the permit was the trickiest of all the huddles. The graveyard is planned in a way to serve the purpose of burying remains and provide the divers with an opportunity to explore the marine life.
The Merry Cemetery, Romania
The name of the cemetery is because of the vivid colors of the crosses used in the cemetery and the satirical paintings carved on the graves. It is believed that the Dacians used to have a joyful attitude at the time of death as they believed in immortality of soul. There was a belief that death is only a better way to meet the God, Zalmoxis. The graveyard was built in 1930s by folk artist Stan Ioan Patras.
British Cemetery, France
British Cemetery, located near the Normandy beaches, houses the remains of the British army officials who died during the World War II. Most of these soldiers died during the D-Day invasion.
American Cemetery, Luxembourg
It is really an exciting experience to see a number of white crosses stretched over a huge area. This cemetery is located in Luxembourg. The white crosses are the graves of the deceased American soldiers that fought the World War II and scarified their lives. The number of the crosses in American Cemetery counts 5000.
City of the Dead, North Ossetia
City of the dead has agricultural prosperity and a magnificent ancient necropolisto attract tourists from every corner of Russia. There are at least 100 graves in the village of Dargavs. There are stone crypts for each and every grave. People used to bury their near and dear ones along with clothes and other belongings.
Newgrange, Ireland
Newgrange was constructed around 5000 years ago. This construction is even older than Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The design is kidney shaped and covers an area of an acre and surrounded by 97 kerbstones. It has an inner passage of 19 meters that leads to a cruciform chamber that has a corbelled roof. The experts believe that the construction of Newgrange would have taken at least 20 years if 300 people would have been employed.
Kalavryta – Peloponnese Peninsula, Greece
This graveyard is quite different from others all over the world because most of the entrants deceased on December 13, 1943. On this day Nazis were in a murderous act of vengeance. It resulted in deaths of many male members aged more than 12 in Kalavryta village. Few German soldiers also died in this fight. However, now this village has turned into an attractive place for the travelers with traditional with good skiing facilities.
Small River Cemetery, China
This cemetery is located in the middle of desert, to the northwest province, Xinjiang. The Chinese archeologists claim the graveyard to be around 4000 years old. The most exciting thing is that the bodies of the inhabitants are still preserved by dry air. The graves are believed to belong to Europeans as they have brown hair and long noses.
Hanging Coffins, Philippines
The people of Sagada, north of Manila are found practicing a unique method of burial of the deceased. It has been developed as a ritual since 2000 years. After the dear ones of this province depart, they place them in caves after preparing coffins. The coffins are prepared by the elderly people themselves before they die. If they are too sick or unable to prepare these coffins, a close relative or the son of the deceased prepares the coffin.
La Recoleta Cemetery, Argentina
La Recoleta Cemetery is famous because it has the graves of few notable people. Eva Perón, Raúl Alfonsín, and several presidents of Argentina are buried here. It is a very rich structure archeologically. It houses impressive architectonic styles and structures. This cemetery was declared as a historic museum in 1946.