The Great Cemetery, Riga, Latvia
Visited July 2016
This lovely wooded cemetery is about 2km out of the centre of Riga, the capital city of Latvia. It's a pleasant walk or a short tram ride to get there, and on a sunny weekday morning there were a few dog walkers, some joggers and me there.
The cemetery covers 22 hectares, and was founded in 1773 (thanks to Russian legislation banning burials in churchyards in the early 1770s) before finally being closed to burials in 1957. Sadly, it was badly damaged during the second Soviet occupation (from 1944 to 1991), with a lot of monuments bulldozed in the 1960s when it was converted into a park. One well preserved area is the Russian Orthodox Cemetery, separated by a road from the main part of the cemetery, and now renamed Pokrov Cemetery (see separate blog post).
Many of the remaining monuments and mausoleums are in a poor condition, although there are signs of restoration work in some parts. Most interesting to me were the wonderful gravestones in the form of tree stumps, complete with roots, leaves and insects. I've never seen the like before!
Should you find yourself in Riga, and can tear yourself away from the sites of the old town and art nouveau district, I highly recommend you come here for some greenery and time out from the hustle and bustle.
