Braunschweig Main Cemetery

Lutheran church operated cemetery in Braunschweig, Germany

52°15′26″N 10°33′35″E / 52.25722°N 10.55972°E / 52.25722; 10.55972TypeProtestant cemeteryOwned byEvangelical Lutheran Church in BrunswickSize43 haWebsiteThe official websiteFind a GraveHauptfriedhof Braunschweig

The Braunschweig Main Cemetery (German: Der Braunschweiger Hauptfriedhof) on Helmstedter street is a historic, church-owned and operated Lutheran cemetery located in the city of Braunschweig, in Germany. With a land area of approximately 43 ha, it is the second largest church-owned Christian cemetery in Germany, after the Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery near Potsdam. The cemetery is operated by the administration of the Evangelical Lutheran Provost Association of Braunschweiger Land. The cemetery ground contains two residential buildings built for the cemetery manager and gardener at the main entrance which is used as the headquarters of the cemetery administration today, a neo-Gothic chapel, as well as a crematorium facility established in 1911.^[1]

History and description

The Central Cemetery of Braunschweig was inaugurated on October 1, 1887, by Mayor Wilhelm Pockels and the Lutheran provost General-Superintendent Wilhelm Beste consecrated the burial ground, along with the chapel. The first burial recorded was of the master baker Friedrichs on October 4.^[2] Braunschweig Main Cemetery has since replaced the old Protestant cemeteries of the individual Lutheran parishes of Braunschweig which were running out of burial space. The main cemetery complex houses the Protestant cemetery administration along with the Evangelical Lutheran cemetery chapel which was built in Gothic-Revival style by the architect Ludwig Winter, and a ceremony hall for funerals. A new pipe organ was installed at the chapel in 1962.^[3]

The cemetery is the final resting place of many renowned personalities and prominent figures, including architects, composers, writers and artists.

Notable burials

List is sorted in order of the year of death.

Hermann Blumenau (1819–1899), German pharmacist who founded the city of Blumenau in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil
Wilhelm Raabe (1831–1910), novelist
Richard Dedekind (1831–1916), mathematician who made important contributions to number theory, abstract algebra (particularly ring theory), and the axiomatic foundations of arithmetic
Oswald Berkhan (1834–1917), physician
Hans Sommer (1837–1922), composer and mathematician
Käthe Buchler (1876–1930), photographer
Rudolf Huch (1862–1943), Brazilian-born German jurist, essayist and author
Walter Dexel (1890-1973), painter, commercial graphic designer
Norbert Schultze (1911-2002), composer of film music who is best remembered for having written the melody of the World War II classic "Lili Marleen"

Gallery

Map of the cemetery
A family mausoleum on the cemetery ground
Ceremony Hall
Bautler mausoleum built in 1891
Richard Dedekind burial site
Tomb of Hermann Blumenau
Wilhelm Raabe's resting place

References

^ "Evangelical Lutheran Provost Association of Braunschweig". Retrieved 2023-09-19.
^ "Consecration ceremony of Braunschweig Main Cemetery". Retrieved 2023-09-21.
^ "Inauguration of the new organ in the chapel of the main cemetery on August 26, 1962 'Stadtchronik Braunschweig'". Retrieved 2009-02-02.