Tuesday 3 April 2012

MELBOURNE CEMETERY MONUMENTS

The Melbourne General Cemetery is a large necropolis located 2 km north of the city of Melbourne in the suburb of Carlton North.  The cemetery was opened on 1 June 1853, and the Old Melbourne Cemetery (on the site of what is now the Queen Victoria Market) was closed the next year.  The Melbourne Cemetery has much history and home to more than half a million stories.  This cemetery is full of fiery preachers, con men, courageous women, scandals, disasters and joyous occasions. Musicians, actors, scientists and ordinary people who have helped make Melbourne the metropolis it is now. A miscellany of photos today of monuments, statues, mausolea and graves.

This post is part of Julie's Taphophile Tragics meme.
This pavilion is for the rest and refreshment of cemetery visitors - much needed on a sunny, warm day like the day of our visit was
The Elvis Presley memorial, which is a cenotaph (cenotaph = "empty grave" in Greek)
One of the mausolea in the cemetery, which is reminiscent of a "kokh" - A kokh (plural: kokhim, Hebrew: כּוּךְ) is a type of tomb complex characterised by a series of long narrow shafts, in which the deceased were placed for burial, radiating from a central chamber. These tomb complexes were generally carved into a rock face, and were usually closed with a stone slab and had channels cut into the centre of the shaft to drain any water that seeped through the rock.
There are several devotional chapels on the cemetery and this is one of the larger ones
A rather magnificent and exuberant statue of Christ resurrected adorning one of the graves 
This delightful little angel was on top of a gravestone. It is obviously mass-produced as one may find numerous identical such statuettes on many a headstone, but nevertheless quite effective in its ingenuousness

15 comments:

  1. Great shots of a historic and poignant place!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like your last shot with the angel best. :)

    PS: If you like Elvis, stop by my travel blog in a few days. I've got the King coming up!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My favorite is the last monochrome shot with angel.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You can always be counted on to provide so much information with your photographs! Makes visiting you wonderfully educational as well as providing much to see. Thank you for the effort that I know goes into producing these posts...it is much appreciated! Very interesting today!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Such a beautiful cemetery, Nick, and as always, your photos are superb! Interesting cenotaph -- and I learned something new! I, too, love the last shot with the angel! Like Linda, I love all fascinating information you supply with your posts! Hope your week is going well!

    Sylvia

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Elvis memorial is quite a surprise! How strange! :-) Great shots, my favourite is #3. Awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for taking us along on this pleasant stroll through the Melbourne General Cemetery. I join the chorus in singing praises for your last angel in monochrome. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. It seems they found room for everyone in this huge cemetery. Really like the contrast between all views you took.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gorgeous shots. Really love the angel shot in B&W - sets just the right mood.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am always struck by how orderly your graves are - everyone lying in neat rows!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The last image is a marvelous B & W image! SO nice to see Elvis in there too!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Well, I never! Is THAT what 'cenotaph' means. Of course, it makes logical sense ... but I had not idea.

    The kokh mausolea that you mention is very similar to ones that I have seen in Botany cemeery. I find them a bit like the body room of a morgue. Not that I have seen this latter anywhere other than on the tele.

    Out at Rookwood, they have just so many chapels for private reflection. It would take quite a few hours to do justice to them all. Some are as large as standard churches.

    Once, again, Nick, a wonderful post where the text and the images are in perfect balance.

    ReplyDelete
  13. pretty pics!
    i like the last one a lot. i found a quite cheesy angel the other day, but on the pic she actually did not look that bad.. :)
    anyways... i am very surprised to see that elvis memorial! i saw his real grave just this december. but eheeeehmm, i think they forgot an A! its AARON, not aron!
    why is there an empty grave? whose initiative was it to put it there? somehow i think its a little weird, no? did his family approve of this? sorry, im just really curious....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh look, i found this:
      http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/article_aron_or_aaron.shtml
      so its either way, somehow. hmmpf.
      and his own grave is with 2 AA:
      http://biebkriebels.blogspot.com/search/label/Taphophile%20Tragics

      im curious about your dutch pictures, ofcourse

      Delete

Feel free to comment, I'd really like to hear from you!
Please do not use this comment box to advertise your goods and services!