Le Cimitere du Monastère de Ciemetz, Nice

This is the second cemetery we visited in Nice. It's life began as a monastery and that is more or less the only information i was able to dig out. 

It's located on a hill overviewing Nice and the view is absolutely stunning. Supposedly Henri Matisse is buried here but we didn't bother to look out for his grave since we are not looking for celebs but for interesting sculptures and graves. 

So here they are:

Jesus-Special in Brugge

My -presumably- last post for April is all about Jesus. This fits because easter is still in my mind. And easter is all about Jesus, isn't it?

It even fits better because i've revisited the Cemetery in Brugge again. As i mentioned before the last time i was there more than two years ago. It was January and obviously it was quite cold, grey and gloomy.

This year however it was unbelievably sunny and warm; spring was all about and though it was a cemetery it was literally buzzing with life.

This time we strolled around much more intense (we were geocaching there as well) and after 10 minutes on the Cemetery it was plain to see that this Cemetery has a main focus on Jesus. Enough of the words, here are the Pictures:

More or less "standard Jesus on the cross". There were plenty of them....

A detail of an odd iron cross rusting away slowly. There are hundreds of them there.

Bronze. Face. Even with tears.

This Jesus is unique. And it gives me the reason to tag "Angels" as wel...

Many Jesus-Miniatures are just laying on the stone Grave Lid and when they are made out of concrete they decay in a very gloomy way.

This is an example of a porcelain-Jesus. They don't decay, but they are obviously not indistructable. I seriously wonder who did this and what he felt when he did this. 

Another fine example. 

This was actually taken 1 day before good friday, so it was a fairly good timing.

Another example of mass production? 

Another porcelain miniature.

The last Jesus for today. 

Looking back to look forward: Brugge Cemetery 2009

This post a bit of a taster of things to expect over the next few weeks at this blog. Tomorrow we'll visit Belgium again and the revisit of the Brugge Cemetery is approved by the family council. The first visit of the cemetery in Bruxelles ist approved too so this is a week i'm really looking for.

The last months were -regarding cemeteries- quite dull (with the exception of the Stöcken Cemetery, Hannover),  but this will end from tomorrow on.

Here are three pictures from the last visit (January 2009):

Father and son

Jesus, light bondage?

a beginners mistake: Didn't i see the damned tree? It's ruining a -despite the trunk- good picture. Next week i'll make it better! Promised!

January... It's the most dreadful month of the year so far...

....which is not surprising since it's the only month so far in 2011. But even when it sounds a bit silly: I'm guessing it will stay that way. February will be better: It's shorter. And the days will grow longer. And lo! Spring approaches. My point is: January sucks! Today, for example i've got an appointment with my dentist. This is one of the real dreadful things in life. Black despair is what i feel right now......

Which brings me to my pictures for today: They were taken exactly two years ago in Brügge, Belgium and since i'm in terrible need of hope they show the man who died for us and our sins...

Merry Christmas to all of you!

I'm not sure if i'm able to do more posts until Christmas so i'm using this opportunity to wish all my readers a merry Christmas!

2010 was a very good year for me when it comes to cemeteries: I've visited a fair number of them (and thankfully the majority wasn't dull) and i've made about 2.500  pictures worthwhile to keep...

Here's a list of the most notable Cemeteries i've visisted:

Budapest, Kerepesi Cemetery
Budapest, Farkasréti Cemetery
London, Highgate Cemetery
London, Kensal Green Cemetery
Italy, Cimitero Monumentale di Milano
Italy, Camposanto di Staglieno, Genoa
Italy, Cimitero La Spezia
Hamburg, Ohlsdorf Cemetery
Hamburg, Niendorf Cemtery
Hamburg, Nienstedt Cemetery
Herford, Marienfriedhof
Bielefeld, Johannisfriedhof
Minden, Nordfriedhof
Aberdeen, Nellfield Cemetery

These are the ones that really were worth a visit. I've seen many others as well but frankly, they were quite dull and depressing.

Which gets me straight to the point: Personally i'm not a big friend of Christmas. But i understand that the rest of the christian world is very fond of it. So i'm not going to spoil it for you by ranting on about the absurdity it means to me. On the contrary i'm giving you a christmas present: An Angel that will hopefully light your day and even the next year...

Just one thing though for you all: Try this as a background for browsing my pictures here. It's worth it!

And another last word: Here's one that reminds me at least remotely of Christmas:

Some thoughts about cemetery culture in Europe

I've noticed something that's nagging on me for a while: It's the different approach of the christian churches graves concerning...

I know it sounds a bit ambitious for a small blog like this but still here's what i think:

The different christian churches (in my limited experience mainly the catholic church and the Churches who follow the Protestant Reformation) are doing things quite differently. And the Catholics are doing it (at least in my opinion) better: The graves of their dead are more often a thing of beauty and of passion.

Protestant Reformation Cemeteries are very often dull, cold and uninviting. Their Headstones are often very simple and very unpersonal. And if they contain something personal and even artistic it is quite often very strange. To get the picture here i will show you two examples:

This is a -believe it or not- a statue on a Protestant grave showing Jesus. And it seems to me that they made him deliberatly ugly. I just don't see the point.













Here's a Jesus that looks proper to me and it's on the same cemetery:

To make my point here's another example: This is the Protestant idea of an Angel:

Don't get me wrong again: I like every grave that is even remotely interesting and this piece of art is interesting indeed. But it is incredible ugly either. Again: Why?













Here's an example of a proper angel:

This one was again on the same cemetery.








To get to an end today and to an end to this large post i'd like to show you some details of the freaky Jesus:

All pictures were take at the Johannisfriedhof, Bielefeld, Germany.

Jesus-Special in Riemsloh

This week it's a Jesus-Special. The Cemetery in Riemsloh was at first glance another dull and boring cemetery, but a closer look was worth the effort...

Strangely enough these pictures all show Jesus or a part of him. So be assured he died for our sins.

Thanks, Jesus!

BTW: This picture is a closeup of the following.

I'm willing to believe that this fly will rot and burn in hell! I really loathe disrespectful insects...