by 6 people |
Although often thought of as macabre, rather unpleasant places, cemeteries are actually very interesting. They provide us with an unusual historical insight into the view that a society has towards death, dying and the afterlife.
They are also, in many cases, quite beautiful places, and many are used by photographers in order to obtain unusual pictures.
This lens will attempt an all encompassing view of cemeteries, though the emphasis will be towards the photographic.
General Links
- Cemetery Column
- An electronic journal on cemeteries and everything else six-feet under.
- Cemetery Culture: City of the Silent
- A site devoted to cemetery appreciation, especially culture and art. Features Postcards from the Grave and The Epitaph Browser.
- Cemetery Studies
- Contains lesson plans on cemetery studies for teachers. Includes pictures of a trip with students.
- Tomb With A View (A Monumental Experience)
- Quarterly newsletter devoted to the appreciation, study and preservation of art and heritage in historic cemeteries. Contains special events and tour information, as well as gravestone symbolism, interesting tidbits and links.
- Kamat's Potpourri: Jain Monuments of Karnataka
- A Survey of Jain Monuments in Karnataka
- Cyndi's List - Cemeteries & Funeral Homes
- Category Index: Cemeteries & Funeral Homes, How To, Mailing Lists, Newsgroups & Chat, Publications, Software & Supplies, and Societies & Groups.
- Cemetery Culture: Grave-L Mailing List
- Mailing lists devoted to cemetery appreciation and culture.
- Tombstone Rubbings
- Instructions for making and researching rubbings.
- Welters Organisation Worldwide
- Memorial products, mausoleum systems, burial chambers, niche walls, cremated remains systems, memorial products, renovation and environmental consultation.
- Connecticut Gravestone Network
- Purpose is to educate the public on how important old graveyards and cemeteries are to history, and that gravestone carving is a valuable art form.
- A glossary of Victorian cemetery symbolism
- Animals, body parts, geometry, objects and plants are the major headings. Individual entries are arranged alphabetically. This is a really useful site if you want to understand exactly what the various statues and other funeral furniture is saying.
- A-Z of cemetery symbols
- A useful reference, indicating what various statuary indicates. Arranged alphabetically.
- A guide to gravestone carvings
- This alphabetical list covers the meaning of the different things carved onto gravestones.
- How to interpret gravestone motifs
- A collaborative effort of cemetery preservation advocates working to increase public awareness and activism in preserving, protecting and restoring endangered and forgotten historic cemeteries worldwide.
- The Association for Gravestone Studies - Home
- The Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) was founded in 1977 for the purpose of
furthering the study and preservation of gravestones. AGS is an international organization with an interest in gravemarkers of all periods and styles. - London Cemeteries
- The 'Magnificent Seven'
Abney Park Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery West & East
Kensal Green Cemetery
Nunhead Cemetery
Tower Hamlets Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery
Cemetery home pages
Many sites have their own home pages. There are also some societies as well, and these are also included.
- City of London Cemetery & Crematorium
- This site provides a great deal of information about the City of London Cemetery, which is in current use.
- Brookwood cemetery home page
- This is the home page of Brookwood cemetery, one of the greatest of the Victorian necropoli.
- The Brookwood Cemetery Society
- Site for the society established to look after the cemetery.
- Friends of Nunhead Cemetery
- Nunhead Cemetery is perhaps the least known, but most attractive, of the great Victorian Cemeteries of London. The Friends of Nunhead Cemetery (FONC) exists to represent all those with an interest in the cemetery. The group seeks to promote the conservation and appreciation of the cemetery as a place of remembrance, of historic importance and of natural beauty
- The National Federation of Cemetery Friends - Preserving Britains Victorian Cemetaries and Burial Grounds
- A site linking all the preservation groups dedicated to preserving Britain's Victorian cemetaries and burial grounds.
- St James Cemetery Liverpool
- A comprehensive and interesting site about one of the major cemeteries in Liverpool.
Photography and Cemeteries
The following links are sites that refer to cemeteries mainly with a photographic bias.
- Page of the Dead
- Photographs of various cemeteries, with a general focus on more famous people and their tombs.
- Cemetery photographs webring
- Links to various sites that contain photographs of cemeteries.
- Angelic Desires
- A reasonably large collection of images of angels from various cemeteries.
- Death Angels
- A photographic essay of B&W angels from various American cemeteries.
- Pharmcat's cemetery photographs
- Various images taken from cemeteries based in the UK, mainly Scotland.
- Afterlife
- This is a flash presentation of the 4 seasons of Streatham Cemetery. It's quite remarkable and worth visiting. Clicking on the images will sometimes result in very odd effects.
- The Adams Residence
- Cemetery photo galleries, with featured cemeteries, mainly UK, but also France and US.
- La Certosa di Bologna
- A collection of very interesting images from, I presume, Italian cemeteries. However, since I don't speak Italian, I can only admire the photography.
- Rogue Pen | Photography | Cemeteries
- A collection of photographs taken at several dozen American cemeteries, mainly in the South East.
- Cemeteries Images
- 19 Galleries of photographs of cemeteries in the UK and abroad.
- Cemeteries of the World
- Cemetery photos from Around the World. "On these pages I attempt to capture and present something of the atmosphere of the cemeteries: the lonesome, crumbling beauty and stillness in the small rural graveyards, the somber elegance of those in larger cities."
- Grave Addiction - Photos of Cemeteries and Haunted Places
- Photos from several cemeteries, haunted places, and historical parks - almost 500 in fact.
- London cemeteries
- A Squidoo page from a Flickr contact, showing her photographs of London Cemeteries.
- Ken Worpole | Last Landscapes
- In this thoughtful and wide-ranging book - which contains more than a hundred and forty original photographs by Larraine Worpole - Ken Worpole explores the way death transforms ideas about landscape and architecture.
Books about cemeteries
If you want to buy a book, here are a few suggestions from Amazon.com
The Belvidere Cemetary [i.e. Cemetery], 1836-1900, Boone County, Belvidere, Illinois
Amazon Price: (as of 12/03/2009) 
Welll Built Mycenae Fasc 7. The Prehistoric Cemetery: Pre-Mycenaean and Early Mycenaean Graves (Well Built Mycenae)
Amazon Price: $56.00 (as of 12/03/2009)
Permanent Californians: An Illustrated Guide to the Cemeteries of California
Amazon Price: (as of 12/03/2009)
Peshawar Cemetary
Amazon Price: (as of 12/03/2009)
Northern Lights Cemetary [i.e. Cemetery] inventory: 2318 Yankovich, Fairbanks, Alaska
Amazon Price: (as of 12/03/2009)
Roane County, West Virginia cemetary's [i.e. cemeteries]
Amazon Price: (as of 12/03/2009)
RSS feeds from Flickr Groups
Graves, Tombs and Cemeteries
Want to keep up to date on what is happening in Flickr groups related to cemeteries?
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byRSS flickr feed from
London cemeteries
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byRSS Flickr feed from
Angels and cherubs pool
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byby Phil_Bradley
UK librarian and internet consultant. My particular interest is internet search, but I'm also an advocate of blogs, rss and Web 2.0 applications. I'm... (more)
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