Cemetery

A cemetery or graveyard is a place (usually an enclosed area of land) in which dead bodies are buried. The term cemetery implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are the place where the final ceremonies of death are observed. These ceremonies or rites differ according to cultural practice and religious belief.

General

From the 7th to the late 18th century, European burial was under the control of the church and on sacrosanct church ground. Bodies were buried in a mass grave until they had decomposed. The bones were then exhumed and stored in ossuaries either along the arcaded bounding walls of the cemetery or within the church under floor slabs and behind walls.

Related Topics:
Sacrosanct - Mass grave - Exhume - Ossuaries

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The habit of burying corpses inside city walls had a negative impact on health. As a consequence, some cemeteries were moved away from heavily populated areas. As an example, in the late 18th century, skeletons exhumed from major Paris cemeteries were moved into ossuaries in the Catacombs, and burials were prohibited in inner-city locations.

Related Topics:
18th century - Cemeteries - Catacombs

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Municipal or independent cemeteries, as we now know them, date from the early 19th century (though the cemetery reform movement began c. 1740). The earliest of the municipal cemeteries is Pere Lachaise in Paris. The idea of government, rather than church, controlled burial spread through Europe with the Napoleonic invasions. The shift to municipal cemeteries was usually accompanied by the movement of burial grounds outside of the city limits.

Related Topics:
Cemetery reform - Pere Lachaise - Napoleon

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Cemeteries are usually a respected area, and often include churches or other religious buildings and sometimes a crematorium for the burning (cremation) of the dead. The violation of the graves or buildings is usually considered a very serious crime and punishments are often severe.

Related Topics:
Church - Crematorium - Crime

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The style of cemeteries varies greatly internationally. For example, in the USA and many European countries modern cemeteries usually have many tombstones placed on open spaces. In Russia, tombstones are usually placed in small fenced family lots. (This was once common practice in American cemeteries as well, and such fenced family plots are still visible in some older American cemetaries.)

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Cemeteries in cities take a lot of valuable urban space, which could become a problem, especially in older cities. As historic cemeteries begin to reach their capacity for full burials, alternative memorialization, such as collective memorials for cremated individuals, is becoming more common. Different cultures have different attitudes to destruction of cemeteries and use of the land for construction. In some countries (examples?) it is considered normal to destroy the graves, while in others the graves are traditionally respected for a century or more. In many cases, after a suitable period of time has elapsed the headstones are removed and the now former cemetery is converted to a recreational park or construction site.

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