Autumn. Huis te Vraag, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The pleasant Autumn day took me to look at Huis te Vraag, a graveyard closed since 1962 and a veritable gem, a real emerald of a park. It's carefully tended and the crumbling tombstones set in little plots surrounded by hedges under ancient trees make for a peacable atmosphere.
More than 12000 people are buried here many in no longer marked graves. The dappling light - luckily for Sony - fell on the only stone as far as I could tell with a sad scupture (there are a few others with the staples of laurels and such). It's the final resting place of members of one of the ubiquitous Zwart families. Here lies Cornelia Wilhelmina Zwart née van den Heuvel (1875-1958), beloved wife, mother and grandmother.
The cemetery was immortalised in a volume of sonnets (Huis te Vraag ) by Dutch pacifist, author, poet and translator from the English of Sanskrit texts, Hendrik van Teylingen (1938-1998). He was also something of a traveler and published about his experiences in Suriname.
PS The name Huis te Vraag seems to go back on a manor or inn called Huis ter Vraech in 1632. It served a variety of purposes and was leveled in 1891 to make way for the cemetery.
Autumn. Huis te Vraag, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The pleasant Autumn day took me to look at Huis te Vraag, a graveyard closed since 1962 and a veritable gem, a real emerald of a park. It's carefully tended and the crumbling tombstones set in little plots surrounded by hedges under ancient trees make for a peacable atmosphere.
More than 12000 people are buried here many in no longer marked graves. The dappling light - luckily for Sony - fell on the only stone as far as I could tell with a sad scupture (there are a few others with the staples of laurels and such). It's the final resting place of members of one of the ubiquitous Zwart families. Here lies Cornelia Wilhelmina Zwart née van den Heuvel (1875-1958), beloved wife, mother and grandmother.
The cemetery was immortalised in a volume of sonnets (Huis te Vraag ) by Dutch pacifist, author, poet and translator from the English of Sanskrit texts, Hendrik van Teylingen (1938-1998). He was also something of a traveler and published about his experiences in Suriname.
PS The name Huis te Vraag seems to go back on a manor or inn called Huis ter Vraech in 1632. It served a variety of purposes and was leveled in 1891 to make way for the cemetery.