My "tombtastic" October

I have decided to visit every graveyard in Berlin. I don't know if anyone has attempted this, but I would like to believe I am one of the few, if not the first. It started with visiting one cemetery on the Day of Open Landmarks, in which guided tours were happening at various historical sites in Germany. One graveyard later, my "spooky season" hobby had transformed into a 10-month goal. 

Besides providing a setting for existential rumination, older cemeteries especially spark historical inquiry and discovery. Most structures in Berlin are relatively new, as in the 20th century, though it was founded about 785 years old. However, in traveling outside of Berlin, I've been able to observe medieval graves as well. Furthermore, for this blog post, I thought I would give you a thrilling incomplete history of medieval burial practices. 

A THRILLING INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL BURIAL PRACTICES

1. Burying the dead, 1000 + years ago.

On October 7th, I went to Konstanz, Germany to visit my German exchange student from when I was in 8th grade:

Konstanz is a city in southern Germany on a lake bordering Switzerland and has one of the oldest and most well-preserved Altstadts (old city district) in Germany. When we attended a festival there, I couldn't help but wonder if any medieval ghosts also were walking the narrow passages of old town or pacing the floors of the taverns. I didn't realize it at the time, but I visited the oldest landmark that was also a cemetery: the towering Konstanzer Münster.

The Münster.

In the Altstadt, Niederburg.

There is evidence of a church existing here on this square since 780 CE, though the oldest remaining part come from around 1000 CE, which is quite rare. An archeological dig shows evidence of Celts lived in this region since around 120 CE, and that Romans came in the third and fourth centuries. 

Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the religion of the Roman empire in 312, but it took a few more centuries for Christianized Germanic folks to come through and Christianize the area. In this conversion to Christianity, people across Europe abandoned burying the dead with grave goods and devotional artifacts for unfurnished, simple graves. 

In medieval times, people buried people around open church yards with no upkeep. I can't imagine just going to the market where there are a bunch of people only six feet under. But in the 18th century, as people became more aware of the relationship between hygiene, sanitation, and disease, cities began prohibiting graveyards within city limits. In Berlin at least, from 1794 forward, churches and municipalities had to maintain cemeteries outside of the city center. 

 2. Medieval Jewish burying the dead, 800-200 years ago

Zitadelle Spandau is an excellently preserved renaissance military fortress in the west of Berlin. Built from 1559–94, the fortress is on top of a hill island Havel and the Spree rivers in the west of Berlin, and you can spend a few hours walking through the museum complex.

The entrance

A model view from the olden days

The citadel's archeological site, however, also contains the oldest gravestone in Berlin: a Jewish man who died in 1244. It's one of 75 excavated gravestones originally from Jewish cemeteries in the area. Jewish people had established a settlement in the Spandau region by 1232 but they were increasingly persecuted, and by 1510, they were expelled from the state of Brandenburg. Gravestones were removed from the Jewish cemetery as early as the mid-15th century to be used as a building material for the growing Spandau castle.

A glimpse of the tombstones from the archeological window

It was cool to look at cemeteries so old, but knowing the Jewish people were persecuted and had their sacred landmarks destroyed made me feel conflicted and sad.

I also visited the oldest cemetery in Hamburg, which is a Jewish cemetery active between 1611 and 1869. At the Jewish Museum in Prague, I walked through the overcrowded Old Jewish Cemetery dating back to the 15th century and learned more about Jewish burial practices at the ceremonial hall. When it comes to grave decoration, a crown means someone had a good reputation, a jug and bowl signifies a descendant of the Levites temple helpers, and different animals could signify a specific name or tribe of Isreal.

The Old Jewish Cemetary in Prague

I also learned that Prague Jews were often prevented from buying more land, so bodies were buried on top of each other up to a dozen times over. 

The Spanish Synagogue in Prague, which was my favorite synagogue and museum focusing on the lives of Jews in Prague particularly from the 19th century into World War II and Soviet occupation/present day.

Jewish Cemetary in Altona Hamburg

3. Burying the rich, precious and pious: 

On my last day in Prague, I stumbled upon the Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia, which was also a medieval art museum. Besides the spacious contemporary sculpture garden, the fact that it was also a popular royal resting place also caught my attention.

St Agnes of Bohemia was a princess of the Přemyslid dynasty (the earliest ruling family of the Bohemia/Czech region), and she earned sainthood pretty recently in 1989 for her commitment to the Christian faith. She founded this double monastery and convent of the Orders of Poor Clares and Friars Minor in the 1230s and became an abbess there. 

When you were an upper-class woman but did not have a husband, your only other option was a nunnery.  However, nunneries could also be a place of relative freedom with access to education. Furthermore, St. Agnes became a popular home for elderly female Czech and German aristocrats donating their property to the convent and living the rest of their lives as nuns. I probably would have enjoyed the nun life.

Three generations of the Přemyslid dynasty were buried in the royal crypt in the Church of the Holy Saviour, including Agnes' brother King Wenceslaus I, who died in 1253. Nuns were also buried in this church, while families not deemed important enough were buried in the other chapel. 

Beautiful engraving on the tomb of Kunigunda of Hungary (died 1285).

The St. Vitus Cathedral at the Prague Castle besides being the largest and most significant church in Prague, holds the tombs of numerous archbishops, patron saints, Holy Roman emperors, kings, and nobility. I wasn't familiar with much of the saints or royalty, but I consistently spotted them in the stained glass, high relief, sculpture, and frescoes. It's the most Gothic structure (an architecture style from the 14th century) I have ever been in, and I would have loved to attend a coronation there.

Uplifting St. Vitus Cathedral photos:

This chapel/altar was not even the main one just on the side. 

high vaulting along the main entrance.

Let me know if you have more questions about all the churches and tombstones and museums I have seen! 

Here are more of my favorite pictures from October:

 Me at the island of Mainau, a flower island/botanical park near Konstanz, Germany.

Festival of lights at the Berliner Dom (cathedral)

Pumpkin carving with some gals.

A classic American taco spread for Halloween with salsa and taco seasoning imports.

At the Old National Gallery in Berlin: I love a brightly painted classical scuplture of princess sisters originally sculpted by Johann Gottfried Shadow, featuring my bestie Allison. Me  Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz both got the orange and red memo.

Just one snapshot of the abandoned U.S. NSA spy towers from the 60s on Teufelsberg, a hill in the forest/hiking area in West Berlin.

Me in front of a painting at the East Side Gallery in Berlin that really spoke to my energy.

Me enjoying the best Schnitzel of my life with Allison. The fixings include mustard, coleslaw, horseradish and fingerling potatoes.