6 Overgrown Cemeteries, Tombs and Catacombs
We’ve all experienced those cliched opening scenes of
horror films where the wind whistles – and sometimes roars – through the trees
of an overgrown cemetery, or a wolf howls menacingly in the background.
But some cemeteries are so atmospheric and eerie that it’s hard not to be taken
in by the tangled gravestones fit for any Hammer Horror production and
catacombs worthy of Indiana Jones.
Highgate Cemetery in London is the quintessential
burial ground, with its famed Egyptian Avenue and gravestones so consumed by
undergrowth you’d think the plants were trying to drag them below the
earth. Highgate was built in 1839 to ease overcrowding caused by the sheer
number of burials in London’s inner city graveyards. Health concerns and
the undignified treatment of the dead resulting from overcrowding were the main
reasons to open Highgate, one of seven large cemeteries around London known as
the Magnificent Seven. As well as accomodating the late Karl Marx,
Highgate Cemetery is known for its so-called occult past, specifically the
alleged Highgate Vampire – now a staple of local folklore.
The angel in this cemetery in Plymouth, England,
almost appears to be weeping, as rain water runs down its face and drips off
the end of its nose. It seems rather fitting given the overgrown state of
the place, where some gravestones emerge from the long grass while other
smaller ones – often those of children or paupers – have become hidden in the
undergrowth.
But this is a place where life really does go
on. Cemeteries – particularly old ones that have fallen into disrepair
over the years since plots filled up and local authorities stopped maintaining
them – are great sources of plant and animal life. The rain may not be
good for the stones in the long term, as they begin to list and eventually
topple, but it’s definitely good for the ecosystem.
The photographs above show family vaults opened and
abandoned. Grand vaults and tombs such as these were the final resting
places of the well-off, although you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise
after seeing these family burial places in less than affluent condition.
The name can still be made out above the entrance, but the residents have long
since given up the ghost.
The Rome Catacombs are even more extensive than their
famous counterpart in Paris. The Basilica of Saint Cecilia is one of the
most sacred areas of the catacombs, beneath which lies the Crypt of Saint
Cecilia, the Crypt of the Sacraments and the Crypt of the Popes, where around
nine early Popes were laid to rest. Saint Cecilia‘s grave is located in
one of the underground chambers, although her relics were removed in AD
821. While the bones in the Rome Catacombs are predominantly Christian,
pagan and Jewish burials also took place there – some in separate chambers, but
many mixed together.
The incredible Chapel of Bones is one of the most
famous monuments in Evora, Portugal. Built by a Franciscan monk during
the 16th century, this hall of death is built with one purpose in mind – to
reflect the transitory nature of life. The forboding warning above the
entrance famously reads Nós ossos que aqui
estamos pelos vossos esperamos, which roughly translates to: We bones that are here, for your bones we wait.
Five thousand skeletons are estimated to line the
walls of the Chapel of Bones, which is itself a small interior chapel adjacent
to the entrance of the Church of St Francis. The scene feels somewhat
grizzly for the house of God. The walls of the chapel and its eight
pillars are “decorated” in carefully arranged skulls and bones, formerly
belonging to monks. Most gruesome of all, dangling from chains attached
to the ceiling are two desiccated corpses, one of which is a child.
The graves above are a curious feature in the
Yorkshire town of Holmfirth, UK. The gothic design of the stones and
dates engraved into them place these burials in the 19th century.
Curiously, there is no church nearby – at least not an existing one. The
stones stand (or lie) in an overgrown corner of a small car park close to what
used to be the railway station. Not exactly what you’d expect from a
Victorian burial ground – a rather grand one by the look of the graves – this
was probably once the site of a much larger cemetery.
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