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1. Underwater Cemetery (Miami, USA)
The Neptune Memorial Reef also known as the Atlantis Memorial Reef or the
Atlantis Reef is an underwater mausoleum for cremated remains and the world's
largest man-made reef (covering over 600,000 square feet (56,000 m²) of ocean
floor). The place was chosen at 3.25 miles (either 6.0 km or 5.2 km) off the
coast of Key Biscayne, Florida. It is a type of burial at sea and the first
phase is estimated to be able to accommodate 850 remains, with an eventual goal
of more than 125,000 remains. The man-made reef, located three miles (5 km) off
the coast of Florida's Key Largo, opened in 2007 after a number of difficulties,
including permits. The reef stretches across 16 acres (65,000 m2) of ocean floor
designed as both a home for sea life and "a destination for divers". Cremated
remains are mixed into different structures and columns.
Among its residents: 86-year-old Edith Hink of Naples who passed away last year.
Her family decided she loved the water so much, they'd try something new. Hink
was cremated and buried at the underwater cemetery off the coast of Miami Beach.
2. Sucre's General Cemetery (Bolivia)
In Bolivia, at the Sucre's Cementerio General, the family pays for a vault upon
their loved one's demise: $10,000 for seven years. After those seven years are
up, the deceased's corpse is moved from the vault into the ground. And after
twenty years in the ground, the remains are removed entirely. Seems kind of
harsh, but still: there are probably very few people whose deaths need more than
27 years of mourning.
Men are often buried with their workmates, betraying how tightly bound a
Bolivian's identity is to his profession. Here, they're not so much family men
who happen to work as truck drivers; they're truck drivers who happen to have a
family. In Sucre's cemetery, large common vaults owned by unions — coal miners,
lawyers and teachers among them — occupy a lot of ground. Likewise, children
aren't buried with their parents, but with other children under a large hill of
white graves, which is both beautiful and sad. The kids' shrines are filled with
Disney characters, coke bottles, toys and poems. Adults, too, have shrines
filled with the things they loved — often tiny liquor bottles, or a pack of
cigarettes.
There's a lot of history in Sucre's cemetery, as well. Among the many presidents
buried here is Hilarión Daza, who sparked the disastrous War of the Pacific with
Chile, which cost Bolivia its coastline.
3. The Merry Cemetery (Romania)
The original character of the cemetery is first of all suggested by its name:
Cimitirul Vesel that means The Merry Cemetery. This paradoxical name is due to
the vivid colours of the crosses and the amusing or satirical epitaphs carved on
them. It is said that this joyful attitude towards death is a legacy of the
Dacians who believed in the immortality of the soul and that death was only a
passage to a better life. They did not see death as a tragic end, but as a
chance to meet with the supreme god, Zalmoxis.
The cemetery dates back to the mid-1930′s and is the creation of the local folk
artist Stan Ioan Patras, sculptor, painter and poet rolled in one. Patras used
all his skills to create colourful tombstones with naïve paintings describing,
in an original and poetic manner, the persons that are buried there as well as
scenes from their lives.
4. City Of The Dead (North Ossetia)
Christian churches, agricultural prosperity and a magnificent ancient
necropolis, known as the City of the Dead attract tourists from all over Russia.
The village of Dargavs, or as the locals call it, the City of the Dead, has a
cemetery with almost 100 ancient stone crypts where people that lived in the
valley buried their loved ones along with clothes and belongings.
The first mention about the City of the Dead dates back to the beginning of the
14th Century. The ancestors of Ossetians settled down on the five mountain
ridges, but the land was so expensive they were forced to choose the windiest
and most unserviceable place for their cemetery. In the times of the plague many
people, with no one left to bury them, would come to the crypt and wait for
their death.
5. Newgrange (Ireland)
Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland, was constructed over 5,000 years ago (about
3,200 B.C.), making it older than Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of
Giza in Egypt. The Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange was built about 3200 BC.
The kidney shaped mound covers an area of over one acre and is surrounded by 97
kerbstones, some of which are richly decorated with megalithic art. The 19 meter
long inner passage leads to a cruciform chamber with a corbelled roof. It is
estimated that the construction of the Passage Tomb at Newgrange would have
taken a work force of 300 at least 20 years.
6. Small River Cemetery No. 5 (Xinjiang, China)
In the middle of a terrifying desert north of Tibet, Chinese archaeologists have
excavated an extraordinary cemetery. Its inhabitants died almost 4,000 years
ago, yet their bodies have been well preserved by the dry air.
The cemetery lies in what is now China's northwest province of Xinjiang, yet the
people have European features, with brown hair and long noses. Their remains,
though lying in one of the world's largest deserts, are buried in upside-down
boats. And where tombstones might stand, declaring pious hope for some god's
mercy in the afterlife, their cemetery sports instead a vigorous forest of
phallic symbols, signaling an intense interest in the pleasures or utility of
procreation.
7. Wadi-us-Salaam (Iraq)
Wadi-us-Salaam (Valley of Peace) is the largest Islamic cemetery, and one of the
largest cemeteries in the world. Located in Najaf, Iraq, this cemetery holds the
graves of many Prophets, and is located near the Holy Tomb of Hazrat Imam Ali
ibn Abu Talib (as).
The cemetery covers 1485.5 acres (6 km²) and contains approximately 5 million
bodies.
8. Hanging Coffins (Philippines)
About six hours by bus from the Luzon island town of Banaue, north of Manila,
the people of Sagada have devised a unique burial ritual involving the placement
of dead relatives into caves after carefully preparing a hollowed out log. These
coffins are carved by the elderly before they die; if they are too ill or weak
their son or other close relative will do it for them. This ritual involves
pushing the bodies into the tight spaces of the coffins, and often bones are
cracked and broken as the process is completed.
After the deceased are put inside these coffins they are then brought to caves
high in the cliffs where they join the coffins of other ancestors. The Segada
people prefer to be buried in the cliffs than to be buried in the ground and
have been doing this for more than 2,000 years.
9. La Recoleta Cemetery (Argentina)
La Recoleta Cemetery is a famous cemetery located in the exclusive Recoleta
neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable
people, including Eva Perón, Raúl Alfonsín, and several presidents of Argentina.
Recoleta Cemetery is both an outstanding cemetery and a highly valuable
architectonic piece. It is a true outdoors art gallery, a unique exhibition of
different architectonic styles and sculptures. In 1946, Recoleta Cemetery was
declared National Historic Museum, since, among its little streets, we can find
the graves of national heroes, Argentine presidents, brave soldiers, great
scientists, and renowned artists and celebrities.
10. Single Woman's Churchyard (England)
The Cross Bones Graveyard is an unusual cemetery located in the United
Kingdom. It is a post-medieval disused burial ground in London, England.
Originally, this graveyard was established as an unconsecrated graveyard for
‘single women,' a euphemism for prostitutes and was known as the ‘Single Woman's
Churchyard'. It had become a pauper's cemetery in 1769. It is believed that more
than 15,000 people have been buried there.
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