Coinciding with Halloween and All Saints Day, TripAdvisor, the biggest travel community in the world, has drawn up a list of the 10 most popular cemeteries in Europe, based on travellers' opinions. Cemeteries have been traditionally associated with the most terrifying and hai-raising legends of the majority of cultures. Furthermore, many cemeteries are real museums containing marvellous sculptures, buildings and mausoleums. Combining art with mystery, cemeteries, crypts and catacombs have become another attraction in most cities, and TripAdvisor has chosen the most beautiful, famous or terrifying of all in Europe, based on travellers' opinions:
1. Highgate Cemetery, London, United Kingdom
Crammed with gothic tombs and buildings, Highgate Cemetery is the last resting place of many illustrious people, including the philosopher Karl Marx. The cemetery is also famous for the legend of the Vampire of Highgate, who frightened the wits out of even the most battle-hardened vampire hunters in the 70s.
2. Père‐Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France
The Père‐Lachaise is one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. Located in the east end of Paris, Père‐Lachaise is the repository of the bodies of a varied group of celebrities, from the legend of rock Jim Morrison to the French singer Edith Piaf, through the novelist, poet and playwright Oscar Wilde.
3. Old Jewish Cemetery. Prague, Czech Republic
Opened in the 15th century in Prague’s Jewish ghetto, it is the oldest known Jewish cemetery in Europe. Since it could not be enlarged without exceeding the limits of the ghetto, but despite this people were still being buried there, some tombs are thought to contain up to 12 bodies.
4. Protestant Cemetery, Rome, Italy
The Protestant Cemetery is an oasis of peace and quite amidst the hustle and bustle of Rome. Also called the Non-Catholic Cemetery, it contains the graves of Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats, whose epitaph is as follows: “This grave contains all that was mortal of a young English poet who on his death bed in the bitterness of his heart at the malicious power of his enemies desired these words to be engraven on his tomb stone: ‘Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water’.”
5. Zentralfriedhof, Vienna, Austria
This, the second largest cemetery in Europe, is the site of pilgrimage of thousands of classical music enthusiasts who want to pay homage to some of the maestros buried here, such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms and Johan Strauss.
6. Catacombs of Rome, Rome, Italy
Work started on these ancient catacombs in the 2nd century, following the Etruscan tradition of subterranean burials. Through the centuries, the Catacombs of Rome has been subjected to sacks, pillage, enlargements and destruction, but still offer some extraordinary examples of primitive Christian art, including frescos and sculptures.
7. Cemetery of Staglieno, Genova, Italy
Regarded as an open-air museum due to the quantity and artistic quality of the funerary monuments it contains, the Italian politician Giuseppe Manzini and Oscar Wilde’s wife are buried here. The Cemetery of Staglieno is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world.
8. Cemetery of Montjuïc, Barcelona, Spain
Opened in 1883, the cemetery occupies practically the entire southern slope of the mountain of Montjuïc. The cemetery is the last resting place of many a famous personage, including Joan Miro, one the most well-known Spanish artists and probably the best representative of Surrealism. Other celebrity graves include those of the musician Isaac Albeniz, the painter and writer Santiago Rusiñol, and Salvador Puig Antich, who is notorious for having been the last person to be executed by garrotte during Franco’s dictatorship.
9. Cemetery of Montparnasse, Paris, France
Montparnasse, another of Paris’ famous cemeteries, was opened in 1824 on the site of a farm, in response to the law passed at the beginning of the 19th century prohibiting cemeteries in the centre of town. The cemetery contains the graves of many French artists and intellectuals, such as Charles Baudelaire, Jean Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir.
10. Sudfriedhof, Leipzig, Germany
The biggest in the city, the South Cemetery of Leipzig is located close to the monument of the Battle of the Nations. Its spacious park contains a large variety of rare species, more than 10,000 rhododendrons, and plenty of historic monuments. The Main Chapel is one of the most outstanding building, as well as the bell tower, which is over 60 metres high. The complex was designed along the lines of the Benedictine Monastery of Maria Laach in Bavaria.
