In fact, a lot of the burial sites in the Athens cemetery are a lot more than six feet high. Many are HUGE--some of them are easily the size of a large bedroom--and that's before you count the height of the statuary on top. A few are even bigger than that--clearly an entire family and several generations are included. (There's Ken in front to give you a sense of the size--and this was by no means the largest we saw!)
Our friends later told us that some of the sculptures are considered major works of art....we didn't know enough to get pictures of those. But here's a wide-angle view of some of the larger memorials near the front of the cemetery (probably prime real estate)
Many memorials have multiple names and dates (the oldest we saw went back to the 18th century) etched in the marble. We didn't know whether all those folks are actually there. In a few cases, the door (!) into the edifice was open and we could see what looked like spaces for urns rather than entire coffins.
Below is the entrance to a small "chapel"--big enough for a few living people to enter all at once--that marks someone's (some family's?) resting place. Incredibly beautiful mosaic tile work (of the Virgin; Christ is on the ceiling).
Below is just the top layer of the memorial to Melina Mercouri--an actress honored by her compatriots with a street named after her (a few blocks from our house) as well as a sculpture of her near the beginning of the street that leads to the Acropolis--for her tireless political activities against "the generals" (in other words, the military junta). This resulted in her going into exile in France, where her husband, the director Jules Dassin, lived. If she had returned to Greece, she would no doubt have been arrested. From ground level (not counting the central "spire"), this monument is over 8 feet tall and easily 12' on each side. However, there are steps around the base that make it possible to climb up several feet. The edge of the marble was chest-high when I took this photo.
Then we walked around to the back. Behind this huge memorial was a small marble slab, no more than 2 x 3 feet, placed flat on the ground. At the top were two smaller etched plaques (a little larger than a typical name plate found on an office door) that identified this as the resting place of Jules Dassin. Melina was "larger than life"--even in death!
Though all the marble and statuary was impressive, we found ourselves drawn to those memorials that departed from the norm.
<--This is just a 12 x 12 garden. You can see the trunk of a large palm tree and fronds of several small ones. I took this photo early in spring, so there were not as many flowers as we imagine will soon bloom. Instead of the typical marble plaques, there were simple wooden crosses.
We couldn't quite understand this one. -->
It looked like it was made of concrete or unfinished stucco. Given the number of names on the front plaque, we could only assume this held ashes, rather than coffins.
<--The huge mausoleums at the beginning of the cemetery eventually gave way to more modest memorials. Some were still 6 to 8 ' wide and at least that deep, but they were right next to one another and the plaques or headstones were much smaller.
Then, more modest still: single rather than multiple burial places, close together. Some had only a plain marble slab to cover and identify whoever was there.-->
<--And finally, the "low-rent" district. You can tell from the size of the flower pots that these would not cover a regular-sized coffin. We thought these might be children, but the oval photos (on the tombstone-shaped plaques) were of adults. Clearly, these hold ashes. Just as clearly, they are tucked off in a corner, all butted up against one another, basically in what would have been a pathway.
There are four different sections: Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish. Except for the Stars of David--and its smaller overall size-- the Jewish section is similar to rest of the cemetery (we weren't there at a time when it was open, so we could only look over the wall): a few big memorial buildings, a few small ones, and everything in between. We later learned that there had been a sizable Jewish community in Athens at the beginning of WWII, but most were victims of the "final solution"--many also joined the Resistance. In other words, many are not buried here.
Our friends later told us that some of the sculptures are considered major works of art....we didn't know enough to get pictures of those. But here's a wide-angle view of some of the larger memorials near the front of the cemetery (probably prime real estate)
Many memorials have multiple names and dates (the oldest we saw went back to the 18th century) etched in the marble. We didn't know whether all those folks are actually there. In a few cases, the door (!) into the edifice was open and we could see what looked like spaces for urns rather than entire coffins.
Below is the entrance to a small "chapel"--big enough for a few living people to enter all at once--that marks someone's (some family's?) resting place. Incredibly beautiful mosaic tile work (of the Virgin; Christ is on the ceiling).
Below is just the top layer of the memorial to Melina Mercouri--an actress honored by her compatriots with a street named after her (a few blocks from our house) as well as a sculpture of her near the beginning of the street that leads to the Acropolis--for her tireless political activities against "the generals" (in other words, the military junta). This resulted in her going into exile in France, where her husband, the director Jules Dassin, lived. If she had returned to Greece, she would no doubt have been arrested. From ground level (not counting the central "spire"), this monument is over 8 feet tall and easily 12' on each side. However, there are steps around the base that make it possible to climb up several feet. The edge of the marble was chest-high when I took this photo.
Though all the marble and statuary was impressive, we found ourselves drawn to those memorials that departed from the norm.
<--This is just a 12 x 12 garden. You can see the trunk of a large palm tree and fronds of several small ones. I took this photo early in spring, so there were not as many flowers as we imagine will soon bloom. Instead of the typical marble plaques, there were simple wooden crosses.
We couldn't quite understand this one. -->
It looked like it was made of concrete or unfinished stucco. Given the number of names on the front plaque, we could only assume this held ashes, rather than coffins.
<--The huge mausoleums at the beginning of the cemetery eventually gave way to more modest memorials. Some were still 6 to 8 ' wide and at least that deep, but they were right next to one another and the plaques or headstones were much smaller.
<--And finally, the "low-rent" district. You can tell from the size of the flower pots that these would not cover a regular-sized coffin. We thought these might be children, but the oval photos (on the tombstone-shaped plaques) were of adults. Clearly, these hold ashes. Just as clearly, they are tucked off in a corner, all butted up against one another, basically in what would have been a pathway.
There are four different sections: Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish. Except for the Stars of David--and its smaller overall size-- the Jewish section is similar to rest of the cemetery (we weren't there at a time when it was open, so we could only look over the wall): a few big memorial buildings, a few small ones, and everything in between. We later learned that there had been a sizable Jewish community in Athens at the beginning of WWII, but most were victims of the "final solution"--many also joined the Resistance. In other words, many are not buried here.
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