Melaten Cemetery - Cologne’s Largest and Old Fascinating Central Graveyard.

 

Melaten Cemetery (Melatenfriedhof) is Cologne’s largest and an old fascinating central graveyard that tells art and social history as well as very private family stories. It is a park-like cemetery with more than 55,000 resting places in various architectural styles, from Neoclassicism to neo-Gothic, neo-Baroque, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Modernism. Here rest many, many people - from times long ago and from the recent past. They all deserve to be commemorated - the people who are little known and the celebrities like Dirk Bach, Willi Herren or Willy Millowitsch, the Farina family, Hermann Götting, Wilhelm Riphahn or Alfred Biolek, to name just a few of Cologne’s notable residents. Other people who are buried here include Guido Westerwelle and Sophia Czory. The list of celebrities is long and goes back 200 years, which is why Melaten Cemetery is famous far beyond the borders of Cologne to people who like to take walks as well as to taphophiles and, of course, mourners.

 

 

From the 12th century, the Melaten farm belonged to a home for lepers. When in 1804 a decree by Napoleon forbade burial within the city walls, the municipality bought a piece of the former asylum and demolished most of the buildings on it. On July 1, 1810, the first burial took place in the new cemetery, which was also planned from the outset to be a public green space and recreation area. There are many historical monuments at Melaten Cemetery - There are four war memorials, an old and new mourning hall, and many old expired grave sites preserved by sponsors. One of the most visually striking statues is the Grim Reaper - the embodiment of death created by sculptor August Schmiemann for Johann Müllemeister: a tall figure with an hourglass and a scythe. Here lies Martin, the son of the patrons of the grave site, the Steinnus family. His tombstone in front is decorated with a frog.

 

 

Regular guided tours in the Melaten Cemetery unveil a place in the heart of Cologne where death, life and love come together with extraordinary flora and fauna to provide interesting and curious facts. The cemetery can be toured during the day or even at night by animal lovers who want to experience the more than forty species of birds and numerous species of insects, bats and squirrels in a special green space and landscape conservation area in the middle of Cologne. Today, Melaten Cemetery has become an inner-city green retreat thanks to its numerous old trees. The cemetery provides a serene environment for visitors to contemplate and reflect, and it continues to hold the graves of notable residents. Melaten Cemetery is a testament to Cologne's rich history and is a must-visit for anyone interested in the city's past. It is located approximately one kilometre west of the city district of Cologne.