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!

The Oneto Tomb in Staglieno and some clones i've found...

This first post for April 2011 is  a special one:

First it's time to thank you all for regulary visiting me. This week the 3.000th visit on this blog happened!

Secondly this post is a bit of a rerun of this post.  But this time i'll show you the Angel of the Oneto Tomb for comparisons sake.

Here's the original:

As i've written before (and i'm not alone) this is a stunning piece of art.

The facial expression alone is driving critics mad around the globe.

Is she grieving? Is she bored? Is she somewhere else? She's so ambigious and  mysterious. But above all she's such a beauty.












Since this sculpture is so famous it is unavoidable that there are copies of her on other cemeteries.

And gues what: I've found two! The first example is like a low-budget-version. I've found it at the Cemetery in La Spezia, Italy which is about 60 miles south of Staglieno.

It is much smaller than the original and since it is made out of cheaper material (concrete i guess) and since it's very exposed to the weather it is falling into decay.














The last example i've found is quite something else. It is  in Germany, Cemetery Hannover Stöcken. And, my word, this one is not famous for it's modesty:

As you can see the artist tried to copy the Oneto Angel very exactly, but he failed miserably when it comes to the face. The Hannover Angel is more or less smiling and does not carry the mysterious aura that goes with the original.

But don't get me wrong: It is still a beautiful copy. And i very much like it. It's just not that outstanding as the original.

Reminicence or cheap fake?

All my posts lately have a common theme as it turns out: Copys, Clones and Replicas of sculptures.

The example today shows how artists are copied. The first is the original. It's a sculpture in the arcades of the main building. Please note especially the face of the woman and the poppies in her hand:

Here's the obvious copy, found in Bielefeld, Johannis-Cemetery:

But when i say copy i'm quite wrong. Clearly the artist of the sculpture in Bielefeld was inspired by the original in Staglieno but it's not a copy because there are siginificant differencies between the two: First and foremost the "copy" isn't that detailled. You'll see it if you compare the hair.

The face is slightly different, too: She's got a closed mouth on the copy and the expression on the original sculpture is more grieving and even on the edge of despair rather than the mourning face on the Bielefeld version (at least in my opinion).







I found the second example in Hanover, Stöcken Cemetery:

This sculpture is clearly not intended to be a copy but it's full of similarities: The general stance of the sculpture and the flower in the hand (though this time a rose).  The clothing is quite similar, too.


On the other hand: The wall is missing and the material is completely different. This one here is made out of copper unless i'm totally mistaken.

It is more inspired by the sculpture in Bielefeld rather than the one at Staglieno (i'd even risk a bet that the artist only knew the Bielefeld sculpture), but still it resembles strongly of the original.

Clones on Cemeteries

Something odd today: The first three photographs were taken at the cemtery in Brugge, Belgium. They show 3 different sculptures, made by one manufacturer, obviously.

The next was was shot at the Nellfield Cemetery, Aberdeen:

And this was taken at the Johannis-Cemtery, Bielefeld, Germany:

The last one was taken at the Stöcken Cemetery, Hannover, Germany:

I wonder how many more clones i will find in the future....

Cemetery Hannover Stöcken II

It's been a long time since i've posted something and there are several excuses i've got to offer: First of all i was a bit lazy to be honest. Secondly, when i wasn't i redesigned my database of cemetery pictures and i'm delighted to say that i'm nearly finished. Thirdly i was a bit lazy...

Anyway, enough of this: I'm here to show you some more pictures from the Hannover-Stöcken Cemetery:

This is a statue i've seen quite a lot at several cemeteries all over europe: A grieving woman leaning on a broken coloumn holding a floral wreath. The first time i've taken a picture of a statue like this was in Brugge, Belgium. The following two do have the floral motiv as well and it's a common code on cemeteries for that live doesn't end with the death.  (Sorry for the link: It's in german...)

These two are from the military section of the cemetery; to be precise here are the victims of the WW I. The second shows a detail of the grave of a fighter pilot.

This bird striked me quite odd. And since i'm not an ornithologist i can only guess what kind of bird that is. Surely looks like a vulture, but that would be strange indeed. So i'm fairly sure that this one is an eagle. More or less....













Just another beauty.

This is the road to nowhere. The morning mist was suddenly very heavy and the luck to take the pictures by stark sunlight was gone. However, this makes this one even more eerie and scary.

This last one shows an angel i've seen on other cemeteries as well. It's like meeting an old friend again.

Cemtery Hannover Stöcken: A Jewel, as it turns out...

Last Friday i had the opportunity to visit the Cemtery in Stöcken, Hannover. And it was a magnificent visit. I'm always keeping low expectations to my visits, especially when it comes to the ones around here. But boy, was i in for a surprise: It is one of the best cemeteries i've visited so far and certainly the best around here!

And since i was very early there (about half past eight in the morning) it was an incredible light from the morning sun available. At least for the first hour. Unfortunatly later it became a bit foggy but it didn't spoil it (much)..

In fact, i made such a huge amount of pictures that one entry on this blog would't do it justice. So i'll do at least 2 or maybe 3 entries about it.

Enough words of praise here: let's get straight to the pictures:

Cemeteries around my County: The Cemetery Gütersloh

Last week my wife and me got the chance to visit the Cemetery in Gütersloh while our son had to play a football match.

It is  a fairly big cemetery and it is divided into a protestant, and a catholic part (and a small muslim part as well). It was a good proof for my theory that catholic cemteries are much more interesting and have what i call a sense for beauty.

The protestant part was mostly dreary headstones with barely anything on them that makes them remarkable; the catholic on the other hand were often accompanied by statues of the holy mother which was like an ever going on theme around the catholic part:

Cemetery Gütersloh

Cemetery Gütersloh

Cemetery Gütersloh

So much for the catholic part. When i said that the protestant part was dreary and boring i was right. But not entirely. There were some oddities i'd like to show you. The first one was on a headstone and even when it's nowhere near being beautiful it's at least interesting:

The next one is plain weird: I wonder why in the name of all that's holy would someone have a portrait like this on his (or her) headstone:

What i wonder about this one: Is this deliberate? Or is it meant to be a thing for good rememberance? Or  is it a cheap  laugh for the people who knew the deceased? Or was everybody blind?