I was just thinking tonight.....

Swiss Cemetaries are the most beautiful I have seen. They are so incredibly well kept. I visited Grindelwald Cemetary, mainly to give respect to the mountain climber graves. It was incredibly peaceful, very well kept, and so respectful. There were fresh flowers on all the graves.... masses of flowers...

The headstones are beautifully carved reflecting in many cases the profession of the deceased.....

Although it sounds morbid, I would recommend visiting a cemetary - particularly Grindelwalds....

The cemetary in Gruyere is beautiful, as well.

I don't consider the beauty of cemetaries to be in any way morbid.

They convey, care, love, peace and tranquility, not to mention grat skill in some of the designs of the graves.

I am sure that there are many other great examples but Lauterbrunnen (pictured) has to be the most exceptional that I have seen. Other great ones include Zermatt mountaineers cemetary and Unterseen, Interlaken

Wow! I've never seen cemetaries like that in America! At least not around where I live! Those are very nice!

Well, it depends where you're living.

Some cemeteries are just beautiful places. Other are just cemeteries...

But it always a quiet place....

unless some spirits stay there

LOL! True! Hahhaha!

Great minds .....!... Just last week I took a stroll around the cemetary here in my village - and as you say ...... Beautifully maintained! There may have been an odd "neglected" one, but I sure could not find it ...... Every grave has beautifully maintained little gardens, an abundance of flowering plants, little thingies decorating the scene ........ and as you mention ...... the trade of the person/family is evident in the the headstone.

My 12 and 9 yr old grandkids were with me ..and even they enjoyed it ..... finding the ancestors of local residents .... spotting recently deceased`s graves ..... giving their views on life/death made for some rather interesting discussions - certainly not of the morbid variety!

Yes, I agree beautifully maintained cemeteries here. But I always get the creeps when I see some poor pile of bones being dug up by a backhoe. They only get 70 or so years to be dead, then they are removed to make room for the next generations of bones. I know they can't hold onto them forever, but it still gives me the creeps to see it. I mean, what do they do with the bones?

Some little villages in Alsace (maybe in CH as well?) still have bone walls. When the bodies are removed from the graveyard, the skull and femurs are stacked on top of each other to make a very morbid wall. The thing is/was, at the last judgment, God should come and take all the dead out of the ground. Well, what happens when the dead have already been dug up and fed to the pigs? No heaven for you?

There is a spectacular bone wall in Epfig, a little village not far from Colmar with good wine and an outstanding little Romanesque church.

Also, for the pure WTF factor, there is the rather large pet cemetery in Laufelfingen BL.

A bit creepy this thread
What I find difficult is that after a few decades they're moved.

I'm not much of a fan of Swiss cemeteries, or at least the ones I've found. They're too clean and sterile. I'm more a fan of Pere Lachaise in Paris, Highgate in London or the Jewish cemetery in Prague...

Also, what's a WTF factor about a pet cemetery? They're quite popular worldwide, people love their pets like family.

All that being said, I'm of the school to burn me and scatter me when I'm gone so no beautiful cemetery plot for me - or my pets

I agree. I like cemeteries that are a bit more organic and less pedantically manicured. One can have a beautiful, dignified cemetery that is not kitch. Still, all cemeteries breathe some kind of magic..

I haven't come across any funny Swiss epitaphs though.

This one from a Georgia cemetery:
"I told you I was sick!"

Or this one from Maryland:
Here lies an Atheist
All dressed up
And no place to go.

All the better without the epitaphs here, if you ask me

LOL@ the atheist one! Hhahahah!

Somebody with a dark sense of humor circa 2 thousand years ago..

Quod Sum Eris
Where I am now, you will be

The Cimitero Monumentale in Milan is also interesting as are some of the Jewish cemeteries in Berlin and the Cimitero San Michele, Venice.

Milan:




Berlin:




Venice:

Please don't bury me in Switzerland. I find the cemetries too neat and too well cared for and all the headstones a certain size and shape. Let me rest in peace for eternity in a grave that is overgrown with weeds and brambles with a well weathered headstone in the shape of an angel. Who wants to be dug up after 70 years (25 years in the village where I live)?
Morbid.

I've been a few times to the cemetery outside of Luzern where my hubby's grandparents are buried. The church is beautiful, the cemetery is also beautiful and unlike any I'd seen in the US.

I know my m-i-l puts a lot of thought and care into what she's going to bring there in pots vs what is going to be planted...

Meanwhile, my own grandfather's ashes were scattered in a field in Missouri where he used to play as a child.

While I can see the beauty and the care with the one method, I can also see the beauty and the thoughtfulness of the other.

I was unaware that the remains are dug up after a certain amount of time to make room for new remains here, although looking at the size of the cemetery, I should not be surprised.

I guess when I think about it, I really love the idea that I can go to that field anytime (even actually if it gets built upon at some point in the future) and still "visit" my grandfather. ♥

I'm less keen on the idea of a loved one getting dug back up to make room for someone else.

That's scary. I didn't know about this rule.
Everything is so practical here, it makes sense though leaves no room for dignity.

I guess it does happen elsewhere, my great grandparents' bodies were taken by the 1000yr flood few years back, so it's a little bit similar..

I don't find cemeteries morbid at all... but how lame does the country in which you live has to be, for one to take up the hobby of visiting cemeteries.