Throughout history, cemeteries have been an essential part of our civilisation. These sacred and emotional spaces are concomitantly time witnesses of local history for cities and towns. They are common to all cities and towns in Europe and they clearly reveal their cultural and religious identity. It is therefore important to see cemeteries as places of life!

Heritage

Cemeteries are part of our tangible heritage, for their works, sculptures, engravings, and even for their urban planning. Cemeteries are also part of our intangible heritage, our anthropological reality, providing a framework surrounding the habits and practices related to death. Indeed, cemeteries offer unique settings for part of our historical memories. They are reminders of periods of local history that communities do not want to, and should not, forget, places which we have a duty to preserve and transmit to future generations.

Travelling today

The European Cemeteries Route offers the visitors the possibility to literally walk through the local history, to learn about important personalities who have worked and left their mark in cities. Traveling through this route actually enables visitors to discover the local, national and European Cultural Heritage at rest in cemeteries. It helps to raise European citizens' awareness of the importance of Europe's significant cemeteries in their multicultural dimension.