‘There Buds the Laurel’: Nature, Temporality and the Making of Place in the Cemeteries of Roman Italy

Using the necropolis environments of the Vesuvian region of Imperial period Italy as a case study, this paper examines the ways in which multiple, overlapping, and temporally specific senses of place were associated with Roman funerary landscapes. In particular, it explores the role of the agency of the natural environment–e.g. the more-than-human or ‘planty’ agency of trees, plants, flowers, and fruits–in the creation of these places, arguing that they are best understood as the dynamic product of in the moment experiences. Focusing on issues of temporality and sensory perception, it is demonstrated that, just as place was itself always in the process of becoming, so too were many of the elements which produced it. Consequently, this study offers a new perspective on the ephemerality of place which foregrounds the currently undervalued material agency of the more-than-human world in the construction of Roman experiences, identities, and knowledge

Cemeteries in nineteenth-century New South Wales : landscapes of memory and identity

Εκ παραδρομής ο πρακτικογράφος εμφανίζει την απόφαση στο φυσικό αρχείο με εσφαλμένη ημερομηνία

Highgate Cemetery heterotopia: A Creative Counterpublic Space

Highgate Cemetery is nominally presented as a heterotopia, constructed, and theorized through the articulation of three “spaces.” First, it is configured as a public space which organizes the individual and the social, where the management of death creates a relationship between external space and its internal conceptualization. This reveals, enables, and disturbs the sociocultural and political imagination which helps order and disrupt thinking. Second, it is conceived as a creative space where cemetery texts emplace and materialize memory that mirrors the cultural capital of those interred, part of an urban aesthetic which articulates the distinction of the metropolitan elite. Last, it is a celebritized counterpublic space that expresses dissent, testimony to those who have actively imagined a better world, which is epitomized by the Marx Memorial. Representation of the cemetery is ambiguous as it is recuperated and framed by the living with the three different “spaces” offering heterotopic alliances

Interpreting Rock-Cut Grave Cemeteries: the early medieval necropolis and enclosure of São Gens, Portugal

EXCAVATION AT SÃO GENS (Guarda district) in central Portugal has revealed an early medieval rock-cut grave cemetery and settlement, along with Roman and prehistoric evidence. The site presents an exceptionally rich palimpsest of archaeological monuments. This paper reviews the findings and seeks to address the problem of interpreting rock-cut grave cemeteries, by describing a spatial analytical methodology that draws on comparisons with early medieval cemeteries in England, as a means of enhancing the information deficit of such necropolises. In the light of these analyses, an interpretation of the São Gens site is offered in conclusion

Constructing Colma

The American Cemetery Movement tells the story of American cemeteries in roughly four chapters, demarcated by the emergence of new cemetery forms: the rural cemetery, the memorial park, and so on. This paper identifies the salient features associated with each epoch of cemetery development and locates them within the city-cemetery of Colma, California — America’s only official necropolis — to demonstrate how Colma extends America’s cemetery tradition in familiar ways. In Colma, the trends of cemetery growth and ‘flattening’ reached their natural conclusions, throwing the uncertain future of earthen burial in America into the spotlight. This paper analyzes the societal, cultural, and often political motivations that guided cemetery evolution and asks which new memorial forms might replace cemeteries for the better

Beyond Burial - Transforming Death: A New Ritual of Farewell and the Ecological Return of the Body to Nature

Burial and funeral culture have been shaped by human self-awareness and reflect an anthropocentric worldview. The modern funeral industry\u27s multi-billion-dollar enterprise is based on the principle of protecting, sanitizing, and beautifying the corpse to promote the idea of human exceptionalism. However, this practice overlooks the natural process of decay and the potential beauty in returning the body to the earth, with which the body shares the same chemical basis as the earth itself. Modern science has provided Eco-friendly green burial methods, such as soil modification, ice burial, and water burial, making it suitable to contribute to natural ecology using human bodies. China\u27s explosive population growth resulting from urbanization has caused a shortage of cemeteries, making it challenging to access earthen burials and cremations. To address this issue, this thesis proposes an Ecological Architecture of Death by renovating Hong Kong\u27s iconic Star Ferry Pier into a new cemetery typology that promotes green burial methods and creates an earth-friendly resting place for the deceased and a space for the living to reflect on our entanglement with the natural world. The proposal is divided into four parts: Spiritual Space, Facility, Theatre, and Memorial. Spiritual Space provides a ritual to participate in the farewell process and build a relationship with the deceased. Facility offers functional and technical support for burial, while Theatre dramatizes the moment after the farewell to prolong the process of memorialization and incorporates it into architectural spaces and narratives to facilitate the grieving process. Memorial keeps remembrance alive and welcomes members of the surrounding community. By embedding the cemetery within urban life and improving accessibility, mourning behaviors can become a part of daily life. Ultimately, this thesis proposes a sustainable approach to death that challenges the conventional funeral industry\u27s anthropocentric practices and promotes ecological harmony between humans and nature. Providing safe and open interactions with death and dead bodies, this architecture can help individuals unburden their grief and find a path towards healing

The europeanization of the cemeteries of World War I in West Galicia : in search of transnational heroism and sacrifice

Focusing primarily on the Łużna-Pustki military cemetery constructed by the Austro-Hungarian army on the Eastern Front after the Battle of Gorlice, also known as the "Little Verdun" (2-5 May 1915), the article deals with the memory of World War I and its use in local, national (Polish) and European contexts. The text shows the history of this lieu de mémoire: its creation, cultural and artistic contexts, and ultimate slide into oblivion during the interwar period and after World War II, before a resurrection in interest in Poland at the turn of the 21st century. Taking into consideration Europeanization processes, the author shows how tangible remnants of World War I are brought into the limelight within European frames of reference and discusses the consequences of this discursive reinterpretation of the Łużna-Pustki military cemetery, awarded a European Heritage Label in 2016

The Manila Chinese Cemetery: A Repository of Tsinoy Culture and Identity

The funerary architecture of the vast 19th-century Chinese Cemetery in Manila differs markedly from other Chinese cemeteries in Southeast Asia.This paper describes the development of this architecture and its many styles rooted in Western and Chinese artistic tradition, their symbolic meanings and significance. It also illustrates how much the Chinese Cemetery today is a reflection of contemporary urban development of the metropolis surrounding it, presenting new challenges and opportunities, and how the cemetery has adapted to these developments. Sweeping social transformations in 19th-century Philippine society and economy, and the introduction of new modern funeral practices rooted in 19th-century Europe fostered the development of new forms of mourning and commemoration at the turn of the 20th century. This found expression in the gradual emergence of small and grand mausoleums for the new middle and upper class of Mestizo and Chinese businessmen and women, professionals, politicians, and ilustrados. This elaborate funerary architecture and its symbolic ornamentation and statuary turned the Manila Chinese Cemetery over the course of 130 years into a rich repository of the nation’s built heritage. Moreover, the parallel existence and gradual blending of Spanish-Catholic and Chinese Taoist and Buddhist religious and cultural influences sometimes led to surprising and creative artistic and architectural solutions which espouse the identity of the Tsinoy, the Filipino-Chinese community.L’architecture funéraire du vaste cimetière chinois de Manille du xixe s. se distingue sensiblement de celle des autres sites funéraires chinois d’Asie du Sud-Est. Cet article décrit le développement de cette architecture et ses nombreux styles enracinés dans la tradition artistique occidentale et chinoise, leur signification symbolique et leur portée. Il montre également combien ce cimetière d’aujourd’hui est le reflet du développement urbain contemporain de la métropole qui l’entoure, des nouveaux défis et opportunités qu’elle offre, et comment le cimetière s’est adapté à ces développements. Les considérables transformations sociales et économiques de la société philippine du xixe s., ainsi que l’introduction de nouvelles pratiques funéraires, tirant leur origine dans l’Europe de l’époque, ont favorisé, au tournant du xxe s., le développement de nouvelles formes de deuil et de commémoration. Celui-ci s’est manifesté par l’émergence progressive de petits et de grands mausolées pour la classe moyenne et supérieure des métisses et hommes d’affaires chinois et de leurs femmes, des membres de professions libérales, des politiciens et des ilustrados. Cette architecture funéraire complexe, son ornementation symbolique et sa statuaire ont, au cours des 130 dernières années, transformé le cimetière chinois en un riche réceptacle du patrimoine bâti de la nation. En outre, l’existence parallèle et le mélange progressif d’influences culturelles et religieuses hispano-catholiques sino-taoïstes et sino-bouddhistes ont parfois entraîné de surprenantes créations artistiques et architecturales qui marquent l’identité des Tsinoy ou encore de la communauté sino-philippine