Camposanto di Staglieno, Genova: Is he really buried here?

I guess not since the name is nothing else than "Neuhaus" in German or Newhouse in English. Still it's a cheap giggle, isn't it?

Camposanto di Staglieno, Genova: Irregular Section

Here are two pictures we've taken at the irregular section at the Staglieno Cemetery. The hills are quite steep and it turned out to be a real outdoor hiking trip to get to the top of it. Still it was a very rewarding thing to do because there is so much to discover there.

This is the entrance of a tomb near the top of the hill and it was a bit sad to see so many of the old tombs are left to decay. 

This angel reminds me of the angels i've seen on english cemetery like Highgate, Kensal Green or Brompton and discovering it in italy was a pleasant surprise.

Camposanto di Staglieno, Genova: Autumn Impressions

Just a short post today: Two images that capture the atmosphere of autumn (or fall for the fellow readers from the USA)

Camposanto di Staglieno, Genova: The work of Santo Varni (from my point of view)

The famous sculptor Santo Varni (1807-1885) was famous especially for two sculptures he did in Genoa:

The huge statue "Allegory of Faith" which is in the center of the cemetery and the "Monument to Christopher Columbus" in Genoa. I made a picture of the Allegory myself so i don't need to link somwhere else. It's a huge one (about 9 Meters high) and though it is an impressing work of art i would't consider it the best of him. Take a look for yourself....

His best work as far as i'm concerned is his own tomb. His wife passed away before him and he made a sculpture of her which is astonishingly beautiful.

Especially her back, her feet and the draped clothing around her.... It's an amazingly and stunningly beautiful piece of art.

Don't ask me why he put that dog beside her but as you can see it was easy for me to take some pictures that ignore that dog.

Camposanto di Staglieno, Genova: The Joy Division Connection

I know that some of you connect the Staglieno Cemetery with Joy Division. That's only a few steps away if you're into beauty and death. And gloomy music.....For those of you who don't know what i'm on about: Here are some links:

Joy Division
Closer
Love will tear us apart
Bernard Pierre Wolf

My desire to see these Covers in reality and to take pictures of them was growing over the years. It was very moving for me to be there at last. And the really good thing about it was that i wasn't disappointed which is often the case if you visit the things that were (and are) important to you. However, enough of my meaningless blah blah and let's get straight to the pictures:

Camposanto di Staglieno, Genova: The Oneto Tomb

Let's get over with it. I know that it is mandatory to show at least one picture of the famous Angel of the Oneto-Tomb. Sorry for linking to the german Wikipedia; the english lacks the entry. Not my bad.

It was made by Giulio Monteverde (the english Entry is a bit poor.... Try the german one if you can...)

Strange thing though: There are quite opposite opinons about the Angel: Some Boffin in the German Wikipedia is convinced (i wonder why?) that she is not the usual grieving angel attached to the deceased but in contrary she is lacking interest for the one she's supposed to guard and that she's distant, closed and unfathomable.

I happen to have a copy of a book (printed in the 20s of the last century) and i'll quote what it says about that particular Angel:

....The Angel, who guards the urn, is admired for the perfect moulding of the arms, neck and head, the deep and soft expression of grief which appears on his features....

So much about being distant and not atttached. 

In my opinion these discussions doesn't matter at all. The point is: It is a marvellous and unbelievably beautiful Sculpture.

Camposanto di Staglieno, Genova

This was the big one. It's very difficult for me to put it in words; nonetheless i'll try....

As i mentioned before the cemetery in Milano was huge. But -and that's the really astonishing thing- it is small compared to Staglieno. And again: Nothing prepared me for the sheer size of it. It is absolutely mindboggling!

Here are some facts about it:

The surface covers 330.000 m² (which is more than one million square feet).
There are 117.600 Tombs including 290 chapels and 468 niches inside the vast galleries.
The brochure we got from the office (for free) states that there are more than 2 million people buried there...

We didn't made it in one day there. But even after two days we didn't see all of it.

To get an impression how outstanding this cemetery is i give you two numbers: We shot 287 Photos in Milano (actually it was way more but these are the ones which deserve to be preserved...)

At Staglieno we did 1.076! And that are only the good ones...

This picture shows one half of a gallery (and me moving: A rare thing...); every niche showing a sculpture. And there are 4 of these Galleries. Furthermore there are 2 huge semicircular galleries as well and a vast number of tombs at the irregular area. It has a Protestant, Greek-Orthodox, Islam, Jewish and even an English Area.

It's a  bit sad though that the Staglieno Cemetery is often reduced to the Oneto-Tomb (which is marvellous by the way). There is soo much more to discover as you will see over the next few weeks...

Cimitero Monumentale, Milan, Italy Part VI

This is my last post about the Cimitero Monumentale, Milan, for the time being. I don't want to bore you away with another praise about that location and will go straight to the pictures:

The last one is one of the craziest Grave i've ever seen. It's the "the last supper" and instead of Jesus they put the deceased in the center. And it's life-size. Not a miniature!