Vestre Cemetery

Vestre Cemetery (Danish: Vestre Kirkegård) is cemetery located in a large park setting in the Kongens Enghave district of Copenhagen, Denmark. With its 54 hectares it is the largest cemetery in Denmark.

Beautifully landscaped, it also serves as an important open space., popular for people to take a stroll, and look at the old graves and monuments.

It is located southwest of the city center, between the Enghave, Sydhavn, Sjælør and Valby train stations on Copenhagen's S-train system, and right next to the historic Carlsberg neighbourhood.

The cemetery is one of five run by Copenhagen municipality. The other cemeteries are Assistens Cemetery, Brønshøj Cemetery, Sundby Cemetery, and Bispebjerg Cemetery.

History

Vestre Kirkegård was opened in 1870 to accommodate an imposing need for adequate burial places for the growing population of Copenhagen. Assistens Cemetery,, till then the main cemetery of the city, had long been unable to cope with the increasing number of burials. First a burial place for the poor, Vestre Kirkegaard became the principal burial place during the 1990s.

The setting

The cemetery is noted for its beautiful scenery, offers a maze of dense groves, open lawns, winding paths, hedges, overgrown tombs, monuments, tree-lined avenues, ponds and other garden features. Many graves have distinctive gravestones, sculptures or large mausoleums and are eclectically planted. The cemetery's grounds boast a huge variety of trees with many rare species and is a heaven to birds and small mammals.

The Crossroads Project

The Crossroads Project (Danish: Stjernevejsprojektet) is a garden complex with a pavilion at its centre, designed by Schønher Landskab. It was created in 2003 after Copenhagen Municipality attanged a competition for the regeneration of an area characterized by the abandoned Southern Chappel of the cemetery and elm trees dead from DED. The complex is intended to serve a dual purpose both relating to the locations function as a burial place and as an open space and meeting place in the city, for those seeking piece and silence.

The complex is made ip of two intersecting axes with the former Southern Chappel in its centre. The chappel was partly demolished, leaving only the central part as an open pavilion-like domed structure. The building is partly over-grown by ivy. The surrounding garden spaces of the two axes, creating a Greek cross, are confined by tall yew hedges and has a grassy floor. Embedded in the lawns of the cross arms are narrow, rust coloured paths, made of oxidized iron plates, flanked by rows by cherry trees. At the end of each cross arm is a 9 metres tall rust coloured iron gate.

The design of the project is inspired by Bramante's Tempietto in Rome and the baroque gardens of Villa Gori in Siena. The latter is characterized by the garden being contained in the two axes of the garden, instead of the axes being the connecting feature of the surrounding gardens as is normally the case.

Internents

Among the notables interred at the cemetery are political and business leaders, philosophers, artists, and musicians:

  • Hans Niels Andersen (1852–1937), businessman, founder of the East Asiatic Company
  • Herman Bang (1857-1912), writer
  • Vilhelm Buhl (1881-1954), political leader, Social Democrat Prime Minister
  • Edvard Eriksen (1876-1959), sculptor, most famous for the statue of the Little Mermaid
  • Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916), painter
  • Hans Christian Hansen (1906-1960), political leader, Social Democrat Prime Minister
  • Hans Hedtoft (1903-1955), political leader, Social Democrat
  • Per Hækkerup (1915-1979), political leader, Social Democrat
  • Thad Jones (1923-1986), American jazz trumpeter
  • Viggo Kampmann (1910-1975), political leader, Social Democrat Prime Minister
  • Asta Nielsen (1881-1972), film actress
  • Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), composer
  • Jens Otto Krag (1914-1978), political leader, Social Democrat Prime Minister
  • Julius Petersen (1839-1910), mathematician
  • Knud Rasmussen (1879-1933), polar explorer and anthropologist
  • Thorvald Stauning (1873-1942), political leader, first Social Democrat Prime Minister of Denmark
  • Lauritz Tuxen (1853-1927), sculptor, painter
  • Liva Weel (1897-1952), singer, actress
  • Kristian Zahrtmann (1843-1917), painter

References

External links

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Tips & Hints
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Murat
4 September 2021
Cemetry, but like a pak. So well maintained, very scenic. Has a lot of walking pathways. Great for walking, running, or running away from crowd.
Johnny Koutiolas
27 December 2023
Nice park to walk around or come for a run.
Hergeir Eldevig
3 November 2010
great for taking pictures. I prefer the spring colors
Torben Eik Jacobsen
5 March 2010
Best and biggest park in Copenhagen
Mads Ettrup
1 July 2012
Find Louis Pios gravsted
Brian Borup
23 June 2012
Der er meget hyggeligt ved Urnehave A.
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Map
1.4km from Vesterbro/Kongens Enghave, Copenhagen, Denmark Get directions
Fri 11:00 AM–5:00 PM
Sat 10:00 AM–6:00 PM
Sun 10:00 AM–7:00 PM
Mon-Tue 10:00 AM–6:00 PM
Wed Noon–6:00 PM

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