Cemeteries in Sweden: Difference between revisions

The burial place of the nobility or clergy was often in the church, under the floor with flat stone markers, in built up monuments, tombs, or even family chapels. In 1633 a burial chapel was built for King Gusaf II Adolf in Riddarholms church in Stockholm which became the pattern for the nobility. For the rest of the 1600’s and 1700’s many parish churches had a burial chapels built. Another tradition was the creation of burial shields (for the nobility) that were carried during the funeral services and eventually mounted on the wall in the parish church. The burial shield might include an epitaph with the design of the deceased persons nobility shield, or even a sculpture carved out of wood which was painted. This practice was even done in rural parish buildings where the noble family had prominence. By 1779 the ecclesiastical government body (prästståndet) began to question the value of burials in the church buildings. In 1815 the practice of burial in the church buildings was forbidden. The nobility or the clergy were given a prominent place in the churchyard instead, often with a little iron fence or a stone edging around the grave.