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Woodland cemetery

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Waldfriedhof München, Germany

A woodland cemetery is a cemetery where the original landscape, with existing trees, is given much influence on the landscape architecture of the cemetery. A woodland cemetery is designed so that the landscape is given a more prominent position, and grave monuments, chapels and other buildings are given less prominent positions. The trees of the cemetery might originally have been a woodland or a tighter forest where a portion of the trees have been removed, and some of the trees might be planted as well.

The best-known woodland cemeteries are the large ones constructed by well-known architects; however, there are also several woodland cemeteries in northernmost Sweden that predate both Skogskyrkogården and the German Waldfriedhof style.

Notable cemeteries

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The woodland cemetery in Karesuando in the northernmost municipality of the country, Kiruna Municipality, was consecrated in 1816.[citation needed]

Other notable woodland cemeteries are the Munich Waldfriedhof of 1907 in Germany (often mentioned as the first woodland cemetery)[citation needed] and the World Heritage Site Skogskyrkogården, outside of Stockholm.

In the United States The Woodlands in Philadelphia is an arboretum which was turned into a Victorian-style rural cemetery in 1840. Today it is a National Historic Landmark District.

Notable woodland burials

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Avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen is buried in a woodland cemetery overlooking Kürten.[citation needed]

See also

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References

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  • Constant, Caroline The Woodland Cemetery: Toward a Spiritual Landscape. Byggförlaget 1994, ISBN 9179880606 esp. chapter 3