London-The rain seemed a fitting backdrop for my visit to Highgate Cemetery. Highgate, “one of the capital’s most fashionable cemeteries” according to its website, was developed in the early 19th century by the London Cemetery Company. Around this time, Parliament designated land in the outskirts of London to be made into seven cemeteries. With London’s population growing rapidly in the early 1800’s, there was hardly anywhere to bury the dead. This statute created more space for cemeteries throughout the city so that the dead could be laid to rest peacefully and sanitarily, as opposed to the previous disease-plagued burial grounds of the previous century. A few decades prior, bodies had been buried wherever there was room. Highgate Cemetery’s website also details that “quicklime was thrown over the body to help speed decomposition, so that within a few months the grave could be used again.”
Highgate Cemetery proved to be a great success. Its desirable location at “375 feet above sea level” and its “stunning and unique architecture” and landscaping made it a popular burial choice for the wealthy. Highgate’s greenery is absolutely beautiful. Today, overgrown ferns and grasses act as a blanket for many of the dead buried there. Oak trees are sprinkled throughout the premises as well, but the most famous tree at Highgate is a Lebanon tree. The solitary tree stands tall encircled by tombs that act as a planting pot. 300 years old, the tree continues to grow and flourish.
Highgate’s smaller decorative details are as impressive as its architecture and landscaping. Many funerary themes can be found throughout the cemetery. Downwards-facing horseshoes symbolize luck, angels serve as protectors of the deceased, and torches facing down represent the flame that is extinguished when the person’s life expires. I also thought it interesting that many tombstones are three-tiered, symbolizing the three virtues of faith, hope and charity. The inscriptions on some of the tombs are especially touching as well. On the grave of a 19 month child is an inscription that mentions the child “falling asleep,” on their death date, a euphemism that is poetic and somewhat comforting.
Highgate Cemetery, for many of my classmates, was one of their favorite excursions in London thus far. “I actually thought the weather enhanced my experience. It added this air of mystery and I think it made it more beautiful,” said Kim Naples. There indeed was an air of mystery in Highgate Cemetery. To be in a cemetery surrounded by dead people whom I never met or had a connection with was a strange feeling. You don’t carry the emotional and spiritual burden that you bring when you visit a beloved in a cemetery. Instead there is an opportunity to imagine what the lives of these unknown persons were like. There is a greater chance to enjoy the aesthetics and appreciate the architecture without feeling emotionally distraught.
Highgate Cemetery, initially built out of necessity, is now home to 167,000 people and attracts visitors from all over the world. Its untamed landscaping and impressive architecture contribute greatly to its beauty and seem to erase the boundary between heaven and earth. The blanket of green ferns and overgrown weeds tucked in the cemetery’s sleeping as I walked reverently out of the labyrinth knowing what I had just seen was too beautiful to exist by earth’s power alone.
a view from the London eye 