Woodland burials on a grand scale
by Dick, 20 April, 2011, 2 comments
In the UK, we tend to think of woodland burials as a very informal and personal thing. On a recent trip to Sweden, I visited a woodland graveyard at the other end of the scale.
Skogskyrkogården on the outskirts of Stockholm is vast; you have to be there to truly appreciate the sheer size of the place. Established in the early 1900s it is completely unlike any other cemetery before it. So much so, that it is considered one of the most important creations of modern architecture – and as such was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 1994. The graves are for the most part low and simple; the natural surroundings – typical Nordic forest of mainly conifers and birch – are the centrepiece, not the monuments.
Read more...
