The previous reflection just introduces us to the practical aspects of death. But whatabout the spiritual aspects?

Humans are social animals, endowed with the marvellous capacities of loving andemembering. When somebody dies family, friends, colleagues keep the person intheir memory. These memories may defer; they will trigger all kind of emotions:adness and grieve, but also tenderness or even hilarity. No matter how the memoriesare, the importance is that we have them. We use to say that somebody diesdefinitively when nobody any longer remembers the deceased.

We also ask ourselves if there is a non-material part of the dead that stays, or thatmaybe moves to somewhere else. We might believe that this ghostly remainder helpss but also that under certain circumstances it can hurt us. We might try to keep thespirit close or to help it to travel to wherever it has to go, or to defend from it.Different cultures, religions, traditions have developed diverse believes about it; butthey have in common considering the possibility of life going on after death in anunknown format.

Where do all these aspects of death put together lead us to?They are asking for a physical place in our real world to be used by the dead. That isthe origin of tombs and urns that if added build up clusters that we call cemeteries.

Cemeteries (from ancient Greek kouuntnplov, which means sleeping room) or similararrangements can be found in different shapes all over the world. ln occident theyhave different typologies -garden, park, forest, town-, but share the location: in originand due to sanitary rules starting in the 14t" century cemeteries were taken out oftown,They became monofunctional, and usually were enclosed.

The second two features very often stil remain, especially in the Mediterranearcountries, while many older cemeteries nowadays are inside town, as the urbangrowth has integrated them.in recent times we can listen more and more voices asking for a daily regular use ofcemeteries by the living: opening or taking away the enclosures, and making themcomfortable to stay there even if it is not to remember the deceased.

Some additional reasons underlie this tendency, especially in the south:

The Mediterranean town is dense and continuous, and often has a lack of open (green)spaces. Many cemeteries, nowadays surrounded by the built, could provide this space.in addition to planted vegetation like trees, cemeteries also get a lot of colouredflower arrangement provided by the families and friends of the dead.

Often cemeteries ar open-air museums, with remarkable pieces of art in originreminding the dead and decorating their homes, but with an artistic valueindependent from their aim or topic.

Probably there could be even more reasons to integrate existing cemeteries to ourdaily life, making them more permeable and converting them into alternative publicspaces.

 - 往期回顾 -  

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