PARK AND CEMETERY. 
704 
MODERN LANDSCAPE CEMETERIES IN GERMANY 
German cemeteries do not, as a rule, 
present landscape features that are of 
interest to the modern American cem- 
etery developed on the lawn plan idea, 
but the famous Ohlsdorf Cemetery 
in Hamburg, and the Forest Cemetery 
in Munich are rarely modern ex- 
amples and have some landscape ef- 
fects that are, to say the least, inter- 
esting and suggestive, if not always 
directly in accord with the best Amer- 
ican practice. 
The modern cemetery in Germany, 
and indeed, elsewhere, is laid out to: 
(1) fill the requirements of the police 
as regards registering and finding the 
graves; (3) meet the requirements of 
the health authorities in all sanitary 
details; (3) be self-supporting; (4) 
conform to the customs and take ac- 
count of the prejudices of the com- 
munity; (5) manage its affairs as any 
good merchant manages his. 
The area required is determined 
with reference to the time during 
which the bodies may remain undis- 
turbed, and the yearly demands for 
space. In technical matters there 
must be taken into account the char- 
acter of the soil and the configuration 
and elevation of the plot. 
All these modest requirements 
should be combined with as much po- 
etry and sentiment of the proper sort 
as possible. 
Landscape pictures and statues, with 
friendly quiet seats, flowers in their 
season, sunny and shady, open and 
sheltered paths in pleasant alterna- 
tion, altogether make the frame for 
that which serves for the business — - 
for it is often a mere business — of 
burial. 
One of the most famous cemeteries 
in Europe, and in fact in the world, 
is that in Ohlsdorf, near Hamburg, in 
the laying out and management of 
which the foregoing general principles 
have been faithfully embodied. 
This wonderful “God’s acre,” the 
pride of Hamburg, and indeed of Ger- 
many, is the creation of its director, 
the architect Herr Cordes, and has 
awakened interest everywhere that the 
modern idea of a municipal general 
cemetery has found root. 
As far back as the sixties the growth 
of the great commercial city at the 
mouth of the Elbe necessitated discus- 
sion of the question of creating a 
general municipal cemetery to replace 
the already numerous churchyards. 
There were at that time no such cem- 
eteries in Germany, and the plan met 
with much opposition. Landscape 
gardening in connection with such in- 
stitutions was known only in Amer- 
ica; but at last it was decided to put 
such a plan into practical shape, and 
the result is the largest cemetery in 
Europe; a burial-place where in every 
direction charming landscape and ar- 
chitectural effects are to be found — 
without, however, clashing with the 
original purpose of the plot. Even in 
the quarter devoted to the graves of 
the poor, emptiness and barrenness is 
avoided by skilful planting. 
The necessary land was acquired in 
1875, mostly treeless, criss-crossed by 
wretched walls, partly sandy, partly 
clayey soil, and altogether poorly 
suited for landscape gardening. In 
prehistoric times it was already a 
burial place, as shown by the ancient 
mounds and rings, found a yard or 
more below the surface. Some of the 
latter, and one of the former, have 
been preserved in the present scheme, 
near the Kapellenstrasse, behind the 
main “square.” 
As most of the Hamburg church- 
yards were already full, it was neces- 
sary to work rapidly, in order to make 
the new burial-place ready for the re- 
ception of the dead of the great and 
rapidly growing city. 
In 1880, eight hectares, or say 20 
acres of the entire 32 acres, were con- 
secrated for burial purposes, and since 
then this entire area has been in- 
creased to 92 acres, exclusive of a sep- 
arate Jewish cemetery of 2.6 acres at 
the southern end. 
The ground has a west front of 
3,600 feet, with one road from the 
main entrance, northwards, and a 
transverse avenue east and west, to- 
wards the water tower. At distances 
of about 150 feet the ground is di- 
vided into squares; each of these is 
consecutively numbered and lettered, 
and each grave numbered, so as to 
be easily found. Sign-posts and plans 
prevent unnecessary wandering. 
There are four chapels, each with 
a room for religious services, and 
one or more waiting-rooms. 
The land is rolling, the highest point 
being- about 50 feet above the lowest 
level; the soil is sandy clay and coarse 
PATH THROUGH BIRCH GROVE, OHLSDORF CEMETERY. 
A Section Reserved for Urns and Memorials to Those Cremated. 
