Cultural Routes-European Cemeteries Route

Throughout history, cemeteries have been an essential part of civilisation. These sacred and emotional spaces are concomitantly time witnesses of local history for cities and towns, revealing their cultural and religious identity. For this reason, it is important to see cemeteries as places of life!

The European Cemeteries Route (2010) offers the visitors the possibility to literally walk through the local history, to learn about important personalities who have worked and left their mark in cities. This Cultural Route hosts three BSEC countries: Greece, Romania and Serbia.

Cemeteries are part of tangible heritage, for their works, sculptures, engravings, and even for their urban planning. Cemeteries are also part of intangible heritage, concerning anthropological reality and providing a framework surrounding the habits and practices related to death.

Traveling through this Route actually enables visitors to discover the local, national and regional cultural heritage at rest in cemeteries. Moreover, it helps to raise citizens' awareness of the importance of Europe's significant cemeteries in their multicultural dimension.

Bonus Trivia!

- European Cemeteries Route project ‘’Schools on cemeteries’’ received the Cultural Routes Best Practice Award 2022.

- In 2019, the Route received the Carlos V European Award.

- Now, you can discover this CoE Cultural Route through the art of photography! The photo book, entitled ‘’Crossroads of diversity’’, and the SunCemet photo exhibition reveal the diversity and uniqueness of cemeteries all across Europe.

Sources: https://www.coe.int/en/web/cultural-routes/the-european-cemeteries-route, https://cemeteriesroute.eu/european-cemeteries-route.aspx

 Photographs taken from: https://cemeteriesroute.eu/european-cemeteries-route.aspx 

Photograph No 1: Tomb of Sofia Afentaki, Sculpture of a sleeping girl (Kimoméni), by Greek sculptor Yannoulis Chalepas, in the First Cemetery of Athens (Greece).

Photograph No 2: Bellu Cemetery, where –among others- lie the most famous Romanian poet, Mihai Eminescu, and the Romanian folkloric singer, Maria Tanase (Romania).

Photograph No 3: New Cemetery in Belgrade, where some of Serbia's finest sculptors and architects gave their artistic tribute creating an immense collection of sculptures and funeral monuments. (Serbia). 

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