Missing you already: Losing the love of the unhomely homes of the dead

Abstract

Cemeteries are landscapes created to hold the physical remains of people who have died. Their buildings and monuments are architectures of love built to mark the landscapes of the beloved dead. They act as perpetual reminders of love, longing and loss through the words, images, and symbols inscribed in their fabric and in their organisational and material qualities. They can be seen as microcosms of the cities of the living, creating a permanent, if unhomely, home for the dead. Decay challenges cemeteries assumed physical state of permanence, transforming them from landscapes of love to abandoned realms of death and even horror. These tensions inherent to cemeteries, between permanence and decay, between remembrance and forgetting, are intrinsic to their enduring power and fascination. This paper compares three cemeteries located in Paris, France, Windhoek, Namibia and Melbourne, Australia, to explore the history of Western burial landscapes, their colonial application and appropriation as political narratives, and how the concept of perpetuity produces deserted urban cemeteries. These case studies underscore the significance of preserving cemeteries as cultural expressions, as they often face the threat of vanishing.