Cemeteries in Sweden: Difference between revisions

Toward the end of the 1700’s the churchyards became enclosed. In 1776 an official communication was sent out to the parishes stating that the walls around the churchyards should be of stone replacing other constructions that were not as stabile. During the 1700’s there were efforts to plant trees in the churchyards. The hope was that the trees would help improve the smell of the churchyards, especially in overpopulated larger cities. As the population increased during the 1800’s (largely due to peacetime, vaccinations, and potato’s) society had a greater need for additional cemeteries’. This became an acute problem in the cities because of concerns with sanitation. A government ordinance was passed in 1810 to create new cemeteries’ outside of the cities. The first cemetery created to meet this need is part of the Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm city that was dedicated in 1827 by Bishop Johan Olof Wallin. As a consequence to epidemics additional cemeteries were created in the 1800’s such as the Kolerakyrkogårdar (Cholera cemeteries’) around the country. These newer cemeteries had a more modern plan, with consistent lot structure, and individual burial places. Even the inscriptions on grave markers from this time period have a greater consistency with birth and death dates, or even scriptural quotations. These markers vary according to social class ranging from the anonymous to the grandiose. Many family graves are from this time period, where the associated lots continued to be reused by family members only. People of different religious beliefs (other than the Swedish state church) have also had their own cemeteries in Sweden. The first Jewish cemetery was created on the island of Kungsholm in Stockholm in 1776. The first Catholic cemetery since the reformation was created within the Norra begravningsplaten in Stockholm in 1847. Immigration to Sweden after the Second World War led to the creation of cemeteries for Muslims and Orthodox Christians. Historically Stockholm has had the highest rate of cremation. The first crematorium in Sweden was built in the Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm in 1909. As the preference for cremation has increased, the cemeteries have created places for the placement of urns in the ground, columbarium’s, and memory groves. The urnlunder are places where the urn has been buried and a grave marker has been placed. Columbarium’s are places where the urns have been placed in a structure built onto the church or even a separate building for that purpose. The memory groves are places where the urn has been buried without a grave marker, or in some cases spread in a designated area.