Space of mourning: A Sacred or Public Space? How the link of burial grounds with the urban environment affects the appropriation and experience of those spaces and how their design and relevance to the site influences the users’ understanding of death.
Abstract • Death is an inevitable part of the human cycle, therefore cemeteries are considered vital in any urban settlement, not only as medium of managing and controlling the deceased bodies, but also as a sacred space for commemoration and remembrance. Through researching burial grounds and crematoria from various cultural backgrounds and time periods, a diversity of mortuary typologies can be observed with quite distinctive variations. The main comparison between the case studies will be to identify any connections to the city - or the absence of them-, their vicinity to the urban centre, but also how this link between the “alive” and “dead” part of the city, shaped the understanding and the approach towards death in cultural and sociological context. • Historical analysis of case studies will include medieval cemeteries of the churchyard typology, where the burial ground is mostly located in the middle of the town, mainly for practical reasons. The church formed the core of the town in most medieval urban sprawls, and as it was the church who officiated the burials, the cemetery had to be in a close distance with the church. This led to the burial ground acting as a public space, similar to a piazza “a lively and readily used space within the city with multiple functions, serving both the living and the deceased.” • In the nineteenth century, cemeteries in Europe underwent a profound change. New legislations for health and safety issues, forced cemeteries to be located or moved to the outskirts of the city and be surrounded by high walls. This removed the previously established urban link, generating a space, which is exclusively appropriated for grieving and remembrance. Death is detached from the everyday life of the living causing a sociological change in the notion of death.
Abstract
• Other examples of burial grounds with no connection to an urban environment include cemetery islands such as Hart island, where a complete isolation exists between life and death. In such space, even the act of mourning and contemplation is removed, generating a space with no function whatsoever for a living user, but dedicated solemnly for the dead. This elimination of any kind of appropriation creates a space that can be described as otherworldly, what Foucault called a “heterotopia”. • Contemporary examples of such spaces also differ experientially according to the link they have with the city. Igualada Cemetery and Hoffheide Crematorium deliberately use techniques to achieve this isolation with the urban environment, so that a more mystical experience is generated, making the space feel sacred. In other cases cemeteries become a continuum of the urban fabric of the city, with limited distinction between the part of the living and the part of the dead. Pere-Lachaise in Paris is described by Rogan M. not as a cemetery but more so “as a museum of death”. Located close to the centre of Paris is mostly used recreationally, taking the role of a city park. • Two distinctive examples of extreme appropriation due to their urban link are the cemetery slums in Manila and Cairo. Cairo cemetery, once in the outskirts of the city, it slowly merged with the urban environment as the city grew, and the space started being used by the living as well. Mausoleums are inhabited and the space is appropriated by the living to suit their needs, blurring the boundaries between the city and the cemetery, more so that the cemetery becomes the city. Similarly, in Manilla Cemetery slums, tombstones and mausoleums act as structural elements for housing shelters for the living, but also the cemetery is generating new economies for its users. The funerary process offers opportunities for other types of unconventional occupation - cleaning graves, selling flowers, removing bones - appropriating socioeconomically the space as well.
Contents 1.The isolated cemetery The place of the dead as a sacred space • 1.a. The enclosed, distant cemeteries. Analysis of Cimitero Monumentale as an approach of excluding the space of the dead from the space of the living and of Igualada Cemetery and Hofheide Crematoriums, as an approach of excluding any indication of alive and active areas from the space of the dead. • 1.b. The entirely detached Cemeteries Analysis of the catacomb and the Island Cemetery typologies in regards to their total segregation from the urban context 2.The cemetery within a city The place of the Dead accommodates additional public space for the Living • 2.a. The cemetery as an urban plaza Cemeteries located in a city’s core acting as a public space for intercourse and other activities . Effect of this everyday contact with the realm of the dead, in the understanding
Contents • 2.b.The Cemetery as an urban park Discussion of the use of cemeteries within the city, as an urban green area, which can benefit the everyday life of the city’s inhabitants but also the effect of their location and design to the user’s understanding of death. Analysis of Père – Lachaise Cemetery, Woodland Cemetery and Baumschullenweg Crematorium as case studies of such spaces. 3.The Cemetery as a City The place of the Dead becomes the place for the Living • Discussion of burial grounds that provide opportunities for shelter, and therefore becoming one with the urban fabric, through the investigation of two inhabited cemetery slums in Manila and Cairo. Analysis of how the spaces are appropriated in order to provide
The isolated cemetery : The place of the dead as a sacred space • Banished from the city, this type of cemetery resides usually in the suburbs or in rural and sparsely habited areas, making it less visited and therefore provides less opportunities for other appropriations of the space. In addition to their physical distance from the city, high walls are built around them, separating them even further from the living realm. • By removing the chances of the living appropriating the cemetery grounds, a space typology is generated, of a place which in regards to its experiential aspect, it is explicitly used for mourning and contemplation by its users. • What is also equally important to consider, that by paraphrasing what stated above, and stating instead: by removing the chances of the dead appropriating the city grounds, a new characteristic of the isolated cemetery becomes obvious, which is the removal of the presence of the dead, from the context of the everyday life of a city habitant. Having no direct contact with tombs or gravestones, while we inhabit a city, makes death appear as distant and something occult.
The isolated cemetery : The place of the dead as a sacred space The enclosed, distant cemeteries.
Figure 1: Panoramic view inside Cimitero Monumentale, Italy, showing the ambulatory acting as a high wall around the cemetery. The grid-like symmetry and uniformity of the graves is also clearly depicted.
• Cimitero Monumentale by the architect Giuseppe Barbieri just outside the city of Verona in Italy follows this burial typology, as it was built in the beginning of the 19th century, after Italy was included in the Napoleonic edict of Saint Cloud, which regulated the distance of the cemeteries from the towns, due to some political decisions regarding health and safety. • The construction of the cemetery finished in 1844, and it was a large orthogonal open space used for the burials, enclosed in each side by an ambulatory, a large covered corridor, which completely isolated the cemetery space from its surroundings. (Barban, 125). These high-walled corridors, are forming a boundary that marks the space for the dead, and while inside cemetery they obstruct any objects or spaces meant for the living. • Important is also to note that the design of the burial ground follows a cartesian methodology, with tombs and pathways being arranged into an orthogonal manner creating a symmetrical space with similar tombs aligned in all four directions.
The isolated cemetery : The place of the dead as a sacred space The enclosed, distant cemeteries. The cemetery is located in the industrial region of the city of Igualada, in an already excavated area, which used to be a mining site. This preexisting negative space created by the removal of soil, was the basis in the design of the architects, as it could generate a journey of descent into the land of the dead. Figure 2: Various sections through Igualada Cemetery, illustrating the negative space created by the former landmine, and how it was sculpted.
• Having a site that is bellow the actual ground level of built areas nearby, provides a visual and sound barrier from the habited environments of the area, but also gives the opportunity of having to be engulfed by land in order to the burial space, which is suggestive of the cycle of life. • In comparison with Cimitero Monumentale, even though both cemeteries are distant from the urban environment and are secluded from the outside world, they approach their surroundings totally different. Cimitero Monumentale is dominating the site with its high walls and orthogonal shape, whereas Igualada cemetery is being engulfed by the site and by approaching it nothing but an entrance is visible.
The entrance of Igualada Cemetery. Approaching the site gives no hint of the rest of the structure. The cemetery is nestled inside the landscape completely invinsible from the outside.
• The space is still enclosed, without the use of an abrupt wall, as the wall is replaced by the earth embracing the space. It does not just respect the existing landscape, but more so, the structure “converges with the site to the point where it almost is a site”
The isolated cemetery : The place of the dead as a sacred space The enclosed, distant cemeteries.
Figure 4: Diagram of the plan of Hofheide Crematorium, indicating the visual obstruction of any manmade objects in the surroundings, by vegetation. Manmade objects are highlighted with red, and clustered vegetation is acting as boundaries is shown in black. Diagram source: Made by author.
• The structure is located in the middle of a lake and it appears to be floating on water. Nature is superimposed to the user as he travels through water to reach the building, the stillness of the water of the lake enhances the serenity of the space and humidity from the lake, helps in blending the building more with its surroundings. • Similarly to Igualada Cemetery, the material selection for the crematorium was based on natural raw materials, which were allowed to weather slowly and blend with the topography of the landscape. Interior spaces are mostly void of any excessive furniture, weakening the boundaries between the natural and the manmade but also allowing sounds to be reflected on surfaces. Sounds echo and are exaggerated enhancing the mystical atmosphere generated by the space.
The isolated cemetery : The place of the dead as a sacred space The enclosed, distant cemeteries. Bronx
New York
• The catacomb typology could be described as such, since by locating the burial space underground, it is completely cut off from the city, regardless of the actual distance between the two. The cemetery is buried in the earth, and this acts as an ‘insulation’ from the activities of the city.
• Even in the case of such isolated spaces like catacombs, appropriation of space for mourning and even spiritual purposes could not be prohibited. During death anniversaries, Christians gathered in the tombs commemorating the deceaced. • Itineraria – special guide books issued during Roman times - act as evidence that such spaces were frequently visited by pilgrims of other areas as well
Figure 5: Map of Hart Island and its proximity to the city of New York
• Island cemeteries are also considered of vital importance, when discussing the appropriation of those spaces in relevance with an urban context, as they are the prime example of complete isolation from it. The burial ground is not just being removed away from the city, but it is completely cut off from the users, as being surrounded by a body of water, makes access much difficult. • Hart Island’s melancholy is intensified by its almost mythological existence. Although there are around 850 000 people buried in the island’s ground, there are no visitors allowed to the island, apart from exceptional circumstances. Out of bounds for the public, this place is stripped of any type of possible space appropriation. Even the process of mourning and contemplation is prohibited, making it a space purely for the dead. Such space could easily be described as a heterotopia, a space considered ‘other- worldly’.
The cemetery within a city -The place of the Dead accommodates additional public space for the Living Burial spaces located directly into the urban landscape are considered a prime example of shifting the usage of public urban spaces, since their personal and private aspect of use is now situated in a very public environment. Appropriation of the space by the users begins to shift, creating a more urban landscape, which is not solemnly used for contemplation, grieving and remembrance. It provides fertile ground for a broader variety of uses beyond the primary practices of such spaces The cemetery as an urban plaza •
During the medieval period, most urbanized environments had a church at their core, and since the church was responsible for the burial of the deceased, burial grounds were located in close vicinity to them and therefore centrally to city. In such cases the cemetery became an active space for the city, an urban civic place, described by Michael Ragon as “a place of public intercourse, meeting, and festivities”
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The cemetery becomes the churchyard, in a time period where religion is of high importance and consequently it accommodates any outdoor activities the church would organize, making it the major public area within its urban setting. Further than that, death is encountered as an open affair, being evident in the everyday life of the user, and therefore being more easily accepted and morph into the society.
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In comparison with the symmetrical orthogonal planning of the walled cemeteries discussed before, the cemeteries following this churchyard typology usually sprawled organically around the church. There was no concept of grid or symmetry as burial places were indicated selected according to the available space in the yard, and graves had different sizes and made of different materials according to the wealth and status of the deceased, indicating a sense of hierarchy.
The cemetery within a city -The place of the Dead accommodates additional public space for the Living • The Cemetery as an urban park • The idea of a cemetery being reimagined as green space makes sense, as it occupies a large area with a rather small building footprint, therefore it has an abundance of potentially planted space. And if this burial ground is located in a close proximity to an urban centre, then it could be generated into an urban garden, providing to the city some interaction with nature but also increasing the chances of further appropriation of spaces rather than grieving. • Père – Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Initially located in the suburbs of the city when it first opened in 1804, but due to the rapid growth of the city of Paris, it is now considered as an integral part of the Parisian urban fabric. •
Cobbled winding streets within the cemetery, and the tombs reminiscent of house facades, with entrances and pitched roofs, creating a sense of a habited rural setting.
It appears particularly urban, with its winding cobbled streets framed by singledroom tombs, being very reminiscent of French stone-built villages.This makes it easier for the user to overlook its primary use and still meander through its streets.
• According to Michael Ragon “the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise was conceived as a museum of death” with its design, not following the convectional cemetery format of that time period, but rather accommodating a public space for the living, within the space of the dead. • The cemetery today might not follow the densely sprawled urban fabric of the city, however it still gives the impression of an inhabited space, drawing away from the user the sense of a macabre place, but maintaining its tranquility. Being a vast green area, located in close proximity to the city, and adjacent to avenue de l’ Rebublique, a main avenue that leads to the city’s centre, • Père – Lachaise Cemetery is regarded by many inhabitants as an urban park and used accordingly daily as such without any relevance to its death aspect. It becomes a place of the dead that accommodates the needs of the living
The cemetery within a city -The place of the Dead accommodates additional public space for the Living
Photo of the burial ground of the Woodland Cemetery, depicting the way graves mimic the sprawl of trees in a forest, making the blend with the environment.
The cemetery is located about 8km away from the city centre of Stockholm and is now surrounded by an adequate amount of residential housing. The most dominant feature of the landscape is vegetation, as the cemetery obeys to the site’s characteristics and therefore the footprint of the tombs is minimal. We can observe that the tombs are sprawling from the ground, in the same manner that the trees do. They don’t follow a grid or a pattern, but they grow rather organically, mimicking the nature surrounding them and, in a way, they generate an artificial forest within the existing forest. The concept of death as macabre and frightening does not exist here. Death is portrayed as natural and serene and as an inevitable but also vital part of human life.
The cemetery within a city -The place of the Dead accommodates additional public space for the Living • Baumschulenweg Crematorium is also worth mentioning when discussing mourning spaces, that accommodate additional public space for the living and also generate a mystical experience when visited. Designed by Shultes Frank Architeckten and located in the suburbs of Berlin, Baumschulenweg Crematorium appears monumental, resting on a thick slab above the ground and rather than obeying the site that it is located, it dominates it. But in order to really experience the site one must first navigate through it. In the diagram in figure 8 you can see the quite fascinating transition from the exterior to the interior of the crematorium. As the user reaches the site, he has to navigate through an orchard of trees, providing the feeling of walking through a forest. While entering the structure we now get to experience a different type of forest. Irregularly placed concrete columns behave as a structural forest, and break this geometrical space into movement space. This forest appears otherworldly and thus enhances the spiritual experience of user Diagram illustrating the journey from the exterior to the interior of Baumschulenweg Crematorium. The transition between the natural orchard forest located outside the building and the artificial structural forest inside of it.
The cemetery within a city -The place of the Dead accommodates additional public space for the Living • The materiality of the structure follows the same logic as the materials are left to decay and age, to make evident that time always continues to pass by. Concrete is left to weather and climbing vines and mold are left to infest the structure. • The body of the crematorium ages similarly to the human body, but more importantly it embraces aging, highlighting the ephemerality of everything • Regarding its public assistance, the building is surrounded by a vast area of planted land that features 2 cemetery spaces. • The rest of the planted space is crossed by pathways, that lead to the shoreline of Spree River, making it an alternative park space within the neighborhood, for recreational appropriation of the space.
3.The Cemetery as a City The place of the Dead becomes the place for the Living
Diagram illustrating the permeability of the city within the space of the necropolis. Red area shows the current cemetery area that has not been inhabited
• Locating a burial ground in extremely populated urban environments, could be considered as a waste of space as cemeteries are large plots of land, which offer no economic profit or housing possibilities, in areas with a rather high land value. This can be evident by two case studies in two highly populated cities, where existing cemeteries were engulfed by the city growth and once embedded to the urban fabric, they started being inhabited by homeless people, creating new communities, and alternative ways of living. • Cairo Medieval Necropolis in Egypt, originally located in the outskirts of the city, now is completely amalgamated with the urban context, having no visible boundaries of where the city ends and the cemetery starts. • One of the reasons contributing to this, was that Egyptian cemeteries were never been walled spaces, blurring therefore their limits, and allowing this urban invasion. • Tombs within the necropolis stemed from various periods of antiquity, therefore they vary in shapes and forms. One can find simple graves with just engraved gravestones, enclosed tombs, creating the space of a room, and even mausoleums the size of small houses.
3.The Cemetery as a City The place of the Dead becomes the place for the Living
Map of the Cairo necropolis indicating the vacant tombs in white hatch, the occupied tombs in black hatch and the residential additions within the necropolis with grey hatch.
Tomb within the necropolis, transformed into a storehouse for antique furniture.
• This availability of encosed, unused space, attracted the homeless to start inhabiting the tombs. At the end of the nineteenth century Cairo was facing the first signs of an urban crisis which continues to the present day, due to a huge boost in population growth and rural to urban migration, because of occupation opportunities. • This caused the available tombs to be occupied in a much faster rate, leading to today, where it is estimated that around 500 000 to 1 000 000 people reside within the necropolis. • The appropriations of the space are quite obvious, as now it is not an urban public space, but consists of individual fragments of semi private neighborhoods, which in turn consist of smaller fragments of private ‘residential’ spaces. • It also important to note that this abrupt change in population levels, created the need for retailing, so tombs were not only converted into housing dwellings, but also into shops, and other businesses.This sprawl of retail shops in the area generated a new economies, making this necropolis neighborhood, more financially sustainable.
3.The Cemetery as a City The place of the Dead becomes the place for the Living
Draft housing unit within Manilla Cemetery, using the existing tombs as structural elements.
Draft housing unit within Manilla Cemetery, using the existing tombs as structural elements.
• Manilla cemetery slum, might not be as big as the Cairo Necropolis slum, but it still is the size of a village, housing around 6 000 people within the cemetery grounds. • Available spacious tombs and mausoleums were converted into housing units, but because such tombs were limited, more housing areas were generated by sheltering any open sides between the tombs or building individual residential spaces above the existing structures of the cemetery • New access points and new infrastructure was added, to make the space more habitable. The slum in Manila cemetery also created its own living economy, as in the Cairo Necropolis, in order to sustain the new population addition to the area.
The Cemetery as a City The place of the Dead becomes the place for the Living • Fundamental businesses started sprawling within the gravestones and mausoleums, such as shops, markets, and even nail salons, in order to service the cemetery’s living habitats.
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Also funerary processes offered opportunities for other types of unconventional occupation, such as cleaning graves, selling flowers, removing bones etc,
• therefore servicing people outside of the cemetery, interweaving the economy of the cemetery with that of the city.
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