"Threefold is the step of time:
The future comes hesitantly,
the now is gone immediately,
the past stands still eternally."
Friedrich Schiller
Have you ever had the feeling that time stands still when you enter a specific location? I have been to places where time was no longer important, and everything around me slowed down. There, the past felt like eternity. Over the years, I found cemeteries, where beautiful old and weathered gravestones stood still under even older and majestic trees that seemed like guardians. Where people were remembered, sometimes with beautifully carved tombstones, sometimes with statues that were mourning at the graves, and sometimes with angels watching over them. I find that most of these sites have a hidden magic. It is like entering a room filled with everlasting tranquility.
Some cemeteries have more of a park character, like the "Ohlsdorfer Friedhof" in Hamburg, Germany. It is the largest park cemetery in the world. Opened in 1887 and developed in the era of Romanticism, it was based on the English landscape garden style. The beautiful scenery was designed with the idea that each deceased person should rest in a garden of paradise. There, some graves are hidden between bushes so that one can suddenly discover a grieving figure belonging to a grave, seemingly almost alive in its suffering. Between trees and branches, it looks like angels are wandering through the harmonious landscape, only accompanied by the wind and the whispering sound of leaves.
In Düsseldorf, Germany, the "Golzheimer Friedhof" was transformed into a public park after it was finally closed in 1897. Surrounded and even divided by major roadways, one nevertheless enters a timeless oasis of stillness. Under the trees, strangely enough, the big city noises disappear. Tombstones over a hundred years old rest in the shade of old oak, linden, and chestnut trees, while sunbeams break through the leaves, turning the place into a magical scenery.
In the middle of the pleasant Bohemian countryside, in the Czech Republic, is the small Jewish cemetery of Telice, which was closed in 1935 and restored in 2013. The oldest graves are over 280 years old. Away from the hectic pace of everyday life, the peacefulness of this place simply flows through you.
Respecting the dead is one of the most sacred things in Judaism. The dead should be allowed to rest in peace as they await the resurrection at the end of days. For this reason, graves must not be removed. The most famous example is the old Jewish cemetery in Prague, Czech Republic. It exists since the 16th century and is the oldest remaining Jewish graveyard in Europe. Due to lack of space, over time the deceased were buried in up to twelve layers and the cemetery today has more than 12000 tombstones.
Have you ever noticed small stones placed on graves? Typically, one can find them on Jewish graves, but sometimes on others as well. Leaving a little stone on the tombstone is part of the Jewish culture to remember loved ones. This is not a religious ritual, but an ancient tradition. In earlier times, the bodies were buried in the ground with a stone pile on top. Thus, the grave was marked and protected from wild animals. For that purpose, tribal relatives brought a stone to a funeral to cover the grave. When they went back from time to time, they also brought stones to place them where some were missing. This tradition continues to this day.
Another old Jewish cemetery called “Malakoff” is in Clausen, Luxembourg, established in 1817. Quite hidden at the periphery of the former fortress of Luxembourg city, I discovered it by walking from Clausen past the Tower Malakoff, up to the Fort Dräi Eechelen. There, the cemetery lay quiet and still, in the afternoon sun, beside the pathway. It was considered too small and was closed in 1884. After a landslide in the 1960s, about 40 graves still exist, some almost overgrown as nature has partially taken over.
I like to find the quiet corners in busy touristic places. Glendalough in Ireland is such a place. This magical spot is located in a valley of two lakes (Irish: Gleann Dá Loch), in the county of Wicklow, south of Dublin, Ireland. Here, a monastery was founded in the 6th century by St Kevin. To this day the site is a place of pilgrimage. The monastery survived several raids by Vikings and Englishmen until the dissolution of all Irish monasteries in 1539 by the English King Henry VIII. After that, the monastery was deserted and fell into ruin. Normally, the cemetery was in the heart of the monastic complex, but after its neglect, the entire area inside and outside the decaying buildings became a burial ground. Today, Glendalough is a remarkably well-preserved graveyard and one of the most important in Ireland. The oldest existing graves date back to circa the 11th century. These old gravestones stand inclined in this magnificent valley, sometimes leaning on each other seemingly giving each other stability, while others are standing tall and proud in the evening light.
When I was visiting the Château fort de Lourdes, in Lourdes, South France, I suddenly entered a location surrounded by gray granite walls and filled with ancient tombstones. It is an ensemble of gravestones from the regions around Lourdes as well as the French and Spanish Basque Country, established in 1930. It is part of the Musée Pyrénéen which is situated in the fortress. Also, some very old graves from Merovingian times (7th century AD) were discovered during the demolition of a church in Lourdes in 1906 and the tombstones were brought here. Even though graves and probably villages have vanished, the stones remain.
Lacommande was an outpost, in Béarn, South France, of the Monastery Santa Cristina in the Pyrenees, a so-called Commandery (Latin: commendare "entrust"), founded in the 12th century. On one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela before the pass over the Pyrenees, travelers and pilgrims, but also poor and sick people were cared for on this site. In the former cemetery, there are 57 disc-shaped gravestones, called Hilarri. Some are dated, the oldest bears the engraved date 1640. These ancient stones stand in utter silence in this calm sanctuary, almost like human beings.
Hilarri (basque: hil = death and harri = stone) are tombstones carved in the shape of discs in the Basque tradition, usually with Basque symbols, such as geometric figures, rosettes, floral crosses, or the Basque cross, the Lauburu. Originally, they stood at the head of the grave facing east, towards the rising sun. It is assumed that this could be related to the idea of rebirth and resurrection.
The Lauburu (Basque: lau = four and buru = head) is an ancient symbol of this region. Some say that it is an ancient sun symbol, others that it is a cross symbol brought by the Celts, and still others say that it represents the four regions of the Basque Country. At the end of the 16th century, the Lauburu appeared all over the region as a decorative element used on tombs, houses, or wooden chests. Regardless of the origin of the symbol, it is considered a good omen, as the sun drives away darkness and therefore evil, which is why the Basque people began to also place the sign over the front doors of their houses. They believed that the symbol would protect them from evil and bring them prosperity.
I find it interesting to discover and observe the traditions in which the living honored their people. Walking among old graves, reading the names and dates on the tombstones, wondering who they were and what stories they might have lived and told. All these old sites have a certain beauty and grandeur in common. Time no longer matters because the earthly part has faded. What remains are forbearing stones and the peaceful rest in eternity.
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