GREAT BURIAL PLACES

Death is not the end

Great Burial Places explores twenty-two of the world’s most significant tomb sites, from dynastic necropolises such as the Valley of the Kings in Egypt and the Ming Tombs in China to cemeteries such as Père Lachaise in Paris and the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna where the most famous people of their age share a last resting place with tens of thousands of their undistinguished fellow citizens.

Pilgrimage to the tombs

For centuries people have made pilgrimages to the tombs of kings and saints to venerate those who lie there. Today, a surprising number of people engage in tombstone tourism, as it is sometimes dismissively termed. Who goes to London without visiting Westminster Abbey, or to Paris without visiting Père Lachaise, or to Rome without visiting St. Peter’s Basilica? There is something irresistible about visiting the last resting places of the famous, about standing in the presence of genius, about making contact, albeit indirect, with those who have left their mark on the world.

Precincts of the departed

These precincts of the departed are silent witnesses to the many yesterdays of history. Whether they stand at the pinnacle of architectural achievement, as do Westminster Abbey and the Taj Mahal, or at the less exalted level of the urban cemetery, they offer evocations of a society’s history and values, of other lives and times. Over the centuries they have reflected the contours and currents of societies, the rise and fall of cultures. They also evidence one of mankind’s most earnestly held hopes: that death is not actually the end of everything and that there is the prospect of another life to come.