cremetorial places

[vaishali kale]

hello every body,

myself vaishali. from final year landscape student…

need some basic information related to cremetorial places from landscape point of view..

(for thesis proposal)

[Leslie B Wagle]

I’m not sure how relevant this would be if you want to focus on Eastern traditions, but even a comparison between Eastern and Western might make a thesis proposal (ie. a quest for how emerging and future are adapting). Just Google columbarium and you’ll get information on contemporary solutions being built for ashes vs. the typical ground cemetery. Some of the walls are interior to structures, but many become the features of what (in Jewish and Christian congregations) are being called church prayer, memory and reflection gardens. Also thru Google sometimes you get the “policies” stated – like how to apply, how a committee in charge operates. etc. even if they don’t show you a photo of the garden.

I got interested in the general topic of church gardens several years ago and took photos all over my region (not the whole state though) and made a website to show the photos. I had intended to sketch plans to attach to them but it got overwhelming. Anyway, quite a few have or feature columbariums if you dig through the “gallery” of shots….and of course I couldn’t resist giving some of my general LA opinions in a little text near the top opening to the photos.

 

www.mindspring.com/~lesmuskey8/PCGardens/PCGcover.html

[vaishali kale]

i really thank you LeslieB. wagle for the web u shared..and the information u shared with me.

well i have not really formulated the thesis proposal yet ..i am still collecting basic information related to the cremetorial grounds….wel i went through what u have posted..i want to ask one question that  church gardens and the cremetorial gardens are related ??

i was underimpression that cremetorial places are more over memory based places ..so may be these are sort of memorial gardens…and sort of spiritual gardens ..depicting peace, end of life..and etc..

if i am wrong please correct me..

[Leslie B Wagle]

I’m not sure we have “crematorial grounds” other than in-grade placement of plaques for the deceased (some areas of those also show up in the gardens). Do you mean the crematorium site itself? I think that is usually remote from the burial or memorial walls -and by the way the columbaria (better plural spelling) can be in secular cemeteries as well as church grounds, at least in the U.S. (The funeral home does the actual cremation and gives the ashes to the relatives to handle in some way). So you would be looking at either another society for comparison or else how to landscape the funeral home 🙂  And of course some people just keep the ash urn on a shelf inside their house, or scatter the ashes. But even in the latter case, there is some chance they would want a “place” to contemplate in. Sorry if I misunderstood the question.

 

 

[Jordan Lockman]

There are some churches that have “memorial gardens”, scatter gardens, or niche walls(columbariums). You can also see these things at traditional cemeteries. Owners of these facilities tend to be non-profit organizations. Near me there is the Veterans Admin. cemetery owned by the gov. for military veterans, there is a local evangelical church that owns a small cemetery, Catholics own multiple large ones, Jewish cemetery, my parents town cemetery is owned by the township, and I have even seen a cemetery owned by atheists. So pretty much any group can start a cemetery.

There currently appears to be many local churches that are adding memorial gardens(ash burials of some sort) in our area. 

[Boilerplater]

I was wowed by this when I first saw it…think it was when I was in school: http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Brion-Vega_Cemetery.html

Not a crematorial place, but I love the way it integrates the landscape.

 

Did you look up Swedish architect Gunnar Asplundh?  He did a famous crematorium.

http://www.mimoa.eu/projects/Sweden/Stockholm/Woodland%20Cemetery%20Skogskyrkog%E5rden

 

I think you should also do a bit about the excarnation towers that the Zoroastrians use for the natural process put into service.  Carrion birds pick clean the corpses, then they remove the bones.  Then there is the growing interest in natural burials that allow the body to decay more quickly and “return to the earth”.  Might be interesting, for your introductory part, to discuss various processes and rituals for…how to put it delicately…end of life resolution?

 

P.S. don’t foget to take your Prozac if getting deep into this research!

[vaishali kale]

to LeslieB. wagle, yes i do mean the actual crematorium site itself..the info u shared also helped me..

(well i will be studing it in Indian context so i think the basic traditions would differ (not really sure because i have no idea about western tradition regarding to the subject..) but any way i m interested in the site and its development) 

 

[vaishali kale]

Jordan Lockman ..this was again helpful info,

thanx for sharing…

[vaishali kale]

i am really thanful of you boilerplater .. this was really imp information..

and very much thankful for the web u shared…thanx a lot..

 

[Leslie B Wagle]

As I was thinking more about this and how the “process” and the “memorialization” are completely split in the developed world, I doubt it is altogether culture and religion, although burials are more accepted than the dead exposed to birds on towers… One side of it is the issue of familiarity to the European west (I think even the waiting for awhile and re-placing bones into a box practiced by ancient Jews is not done any longer). But the added factor operating to prevent open cremations could be clean air or even general pollution standards. I know that in a city government where I worked, people in charge of the watershed were very concerned about some report of ashes being scattered on one of their lakes (even though I presume fishermen could throw back fish).

[vaishali kale]

ok..

i have never come across as u said tht ” the dead exposed to birds on towers…”

this was when i read this ..

anyway..i am looking at the burial practices..which has cultural and religious aspects as well..(that to in Indian context..ofcourse the western traditions as shared above is helping me to evolve the topic in more maturaed way…)

well may i have an opportunity to know ur place please for the referance..

[vaishali kale]

well sir. boilerplater may i have a single opportunity to know ur place for reference..

[Leslie B Wagle]

You can check people’s profiles for more, but I’m in North Carolina. Good luck with the idea. It has a lot of realms to explore. I can’t find something I read recently about these but maybe the link below will help on the ancient towers. They have found a metal box somewhere with a depiction of such a tower with birds on the top that helped archeologists decide a series of circular walls had to be such a place, rather than a “town” as previously thought. Of course, native Americans also did something like this with temporary structures.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakhma

[Boilerplater]

This might be where I read about it: http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/search?q=zoroastrian

It was a while ago.  Somewhere I found an illustration of the interior of one of these towers, with bodies laid out for the vultures.  Do a search for “Zoroastrian Burial Practices” and you’ll find a lot.

[vaishali kale]

wel i am very much new user t=of land8lounge so do not really aware of hoe to check the information….so i asked for it..

well this was helpful for me to formulate my scope of work..thank you very much..

 

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