The 10 Largest Cemeteries in the World

 

Each culture and religion has its own sacred burial places and, in some cases, they are real wonders both for monuments and artistic works contained as well as for the load of pathos that they manage to transmit.

If you are a cemetery enthusiast, you probably want to know which are the largest or most beautiful ones across the globe. In this post, we show you the 10 largest cemeteries in the world you’ll want to visit!

10. Brookwood Cemetery

Location: Brookwood, UK
Number of bodies buried: 235,000
Size: 2 square kilometers
Year of creation: 1849

Built at the behest of the London Necropolis Company, Brookwood cemetery is the largest in the United Kingdom. It’s located near the train station, the silence of which allows you can hear the passage of trains to Waterloo.

9. Crown Hill Cemetery

Location: Indianapolis, USA
Number of buried bodies: 200,000
Size: 2.24 square kilometers
Year of creation: 1864

Crown Hill Cemetery is the largest private cemetery in the United States. This place of eternal rest is divided into 10 sectors and is highly appreciated by tourists because of its position and the panorama it offers.

8. Arlington National Cemetery

Location: Arlington County, USA
Number of buried bodies: 400,000
Size: 2.52 square kilometers
Year of creation: 1864

Arlington Cemetery is the most famous military cemetery in the United States as well as one of the oldest. It was expanded during the Second World War and is divided into 70 sectors. Each year, it attracts over 4 million visitors.

7. Spring Grove Cemetery

Location: Cincinnati, USA
Number of buried bodies: N/A
Size: 2.96 square kilometers
Year of creation: 1845

Founded by Stephen Page in 1845, Spring Grove Avenue Cemetery in Cincinnati saw its first burial on September 1, 1945. Numerous tourists are drawn each year to its 12 ponds as well as the numerous monuments and memorials and various examples of gothic architecture.

6. Rookwood Cemetery

Location: Sydney, Australia
Number of bodies buried: 1 million
Size: 3 square kilometers
Year of creation: 1868

Rookwood is the largest Victorian cemetery in the world. It’s divided into 5 religious areas, with separate offices for each, to offer the best possible service. The areas are General, Independent, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim.

5. Karacaahmet Cemetery

Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Number of bodies buried: 1 million
Size: 3 square kilometers
Year of creation: 1436

Located in Uskudar, on the Asian side of the city, this cemetery is divided into 12 sections, each dedicated to a different religious group. The cemetery is dedicated to the warrior Karaca Ahmet Sultan and has many historical tombs with engravings in Ottoman Turkish. The burial ground, covered by tall cypresses, has come to contain the maximum number of possible graves.

4. Ohlsdof Cemetery

Location: Hamburg, Germany
Number of bodies buried: 1.5 million
Size: 3.9 square kilometers
Year of creation: 1877

Ohlsdof is the largest cemetery in Europe and hosts about 40% of Hamburg burials annually. It has a conciliation room and a museum aimed at promoting historical funeral culture to the public. Around 2 million tourists visit it every year.

3. Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery

Location: Ellwood, USA
Number of buried bodies: N/A
Size: 3.9 square kilometers
Year of creation: 1862

This cemetery is dedicated to the 16th American President, founder of the US cemetery system. In 1999, Abraham Lincoln Cemetery received recognition as the 117th National Cemetery of the United States. It has a memorial area dedicated to soldiers who lost their lives in the wars of the last century as well as an information center.

2. Calverton National Cemetery

Location: New York, USA
Number of bodies buried: 212,000
Size: 4,2 square kilometers
Year of creation: 1978

Calverton Cemetery is the second-largest cemetery in the world and the most used one in the United States, receiving over 10,000 burials each year.

1. Wadi Al-Salam Cemetery

Location: Najaf, Iraq
Number of bodies buried: 10 million
Size: 6 square kilometers
Year of creation: 7th century AD

Wadi Al-Salam covers about 15% of the city of Najaf and is the Muslim sacred cemetery par excellence. Also known as the Valley of Peace, it has given the last home to Muslims from Iraq, Pakistan, India, Iran, and other nationalities in its 1400-year history. Unfortunately, ISIS activity is destroying it.