Certainly, on of the best cemeteries we've visited is Highgate in London. It is filled with Victorian cemetery art of the highest order and populated by a zoo of famous people along with the lowly folks like us.
If you haven't been already, it really must be on your shortlist. Take the Northern line to Archway and catch the 217 bus to Bisham Gardens and you are a short walk away.
The cemetery is bisected by Swain's Lane with a self-tour section on one side and guided tour section on the other. In the self-tour section you will find such notables as Karl Marx, George Elliott, and Douglas Adams. You can also find grand examples of high Victorian funerary statuary. the draped urn is one of the most common symbols of death from that period and is still found in modern cemeteries.
On the guided tour side of the road is Egyptian Avenue displaying the Victorian fascination for all things Egyptian. It is here that you also find the graves of Charles Dickens relatives. Of course, you will find Charles in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey in spite of his wishes to be buried in Kent.
But much of the place is filled with statues of angels and crosses.
Here is where my fascination with the depiction of cloth in stone was first formed. Even covered in lichen and moss in the wet London climate, these angels are dressed amazingly.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We enjoy hearing from our readers.