Cemeteries, mausoleums and burial places in Germany

Holocaust Memorial

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial is dedicated to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. It consists of a 19,000 m2 site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. They are organized in rows, 54 of them going north-south, and 87 heading east-west at right angles but set slight ...
Founded: 2003 | Location: Berlin, Germany

Württemberg Mausoleum

The Württemberg Mausoleum is a memorial standing on the peak of Württemberg Hill at the westernmost end of Schurwald woods overlooking the Neckar river. The memorial was built for Catherine Pavlovna of Russia (1788–1819), the second wife of William I of Württemberg (1781–1864). The remains of William I and his daughter Maria Friederike Charlotte of Württemberg (1816–1887) are also hou ...
Founded: 1820-1824 | Location: Untertürkheim, Germany

St. Rochus Cemetery

St. Rochus Cemetery (Rochusfriedhof) was created in late 1510s to bury the victims of the plague epidemic of 1517-18. To avoid spreading the disease, city authorities decided to build the cemetery at some distance from the city, so St. Rochus is located outside the old city wall. The cemetery was finally consecrated on 21 March 1519. St. Rochus Chapel was built in 1520–21. The architect was Hans Beheim the Elder, wh ...
Founded: 1517-1520 | Location: Nuremberg, Germany

Ducal Vault

Weimar’s Ducal Vault is not a typical burial place for a royal family. Since 1832, the members of the House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach have shared their tomb with the two most famous poets of Weimar classicism, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. As a result, the mausoleum has been a popular site of veneration for the poets ever since the mid-19th century. The construction of the Ducal Vault was commissione ...
Founded: 1823-1828 | Location: Weimar, Germany

St. Mary's Church

Marienkirche (St. Mary's Church) is unmissable because of a stubby tower called as 'Fat Mary'. The exact year of the construction is unkown. It is assumed that the building was begun after 1260. In 1275, the building plans were changed and the building continued as a three-nave hall church without a choir. In 1280 the building was mainly completed, but it can be assumed that the construction was still continued un ...
Founded: c. 1260 | Location: Greifswald, Germany

Ohlsdorf Cemetery

Ohlsdorf Cemetery is the fourth-largest cemetery in the world. Most of the people buried at the cemetery are civilians, but there is also a large number of victims of war from various nations. It was established in 1877 as a non-denominational and multi-regional burial site outside of Hamburg. The cemetery has an area of 391 hectares (966 acres) with 12 chapels, over 1.5 million burials in more than 280,000 burial sites a ...
Founded: 1877 | Location: Hamburg, Germany

Sulzbach Castle

The earliest traces of human settlement on the Sulzbach castle hill have been dated to the Late Hallstatt or Early La Tène culture. The medieval settlement was built first in the 8th century or early 9th century. The partially stone-made castle was built there in the 9th or 10th century. In 1003 the castle was moved to the Nordgaugrafen family by Henry II. The medieval castle was rebuilt from 1618 to the Renaissance styl ...
Founded: 10th century | Location: Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany

Magdalenenberg

Magdalenenberg is considered the largest tumulus from the Hallstatt period (Iron Age) in Central Europe with a volume of 33.000 cubic meters. The central tomb, where an early Celtic Prince was buried, has been dendrochronologically dated to 616 BC. The mound, which is still distinctly silhouetted against the landscape, once possessed a height of 10–12 m (now about 8 m) and a diameter of 104 meters. Little is known a ...
Founded: c. 616 BC | Location: Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany

Denghoog

Denghoog is a Neolithic passage grave dating from around 3000 BC on the northern edge of Wenningstedt-Braderup on the German Island of Sylt. The name Denghoog derives from the Söl"ring Deng (Thing) and Hoog (Hill). Denghoog is an artificial hill created in the 4th millennium BC on top of a passage grave. The hill today has a height of around 3.5 metres and a diameter at the base of around 32 metres. The interna ...
Founded: 3000 BC | Location: Wenningstedt-Braderup, Germany

Degernau Dolmen

Reconstructed Schwörstadt-type dolmen
Founded: Bronze Age | Location: Degernau, Germany

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Cesis Castle

German crusaders known as the Livonian Brothers of the Sword began construction of the Cēsis castle (Wenden) near the hill fort in 1209. When the castle was enlarged and fortified, it served as the residence for the Order's Master from 1237 till 1561, with periodic interruptions. Its ruins are some of the most majestic castle ruins in the Baltic states. Once the most important castle of the Livonian Order, it was the official residence for the masters of the order.

In 1577, during the Livonian War, the garrison destroyed the castle to prevent it from falling into the control of Ivan the Terrible, who was decisively defeated in the Battle of Wenden (1578).

In 1598 it was incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Wenden Voivodship was created here. In 1620 Wenden was conquered by Sweden. It was rebuilt afterwards, but was destroyed again in 1703 during the Great Northern War by the Russian army and left in a ruined state. Already from the end of the 16th century, the premises of the Order's castle were adjusted to the requirements of the Cēsis Castle estate. When in 1777 the Cēsis Castle estate was obtained by Count Carl Sievers, he had his new residence house built on the site of the eastern block of the castle, joining its end wall with the fortification tower.

Since 1949, the Cēsis History Museum has been located in this New Castle of the Cēsis Castle estate. The front yard of the New Castle is enclosed by a granary and a stable-coach house, which now houses the Exhibition Hall of the Museum. Beside the granary there is the oldest brewery in Latvia, Cēsu alus darītava, which was built in 1878 during the later Count Sievers' time, but its origins date back to the period of the Livonian Order. Further on, the Cēsis Castle park is situated, which was laid out in 1812. The park has the romantic characteristic of that time, with its winding footpaths, exotic plants, and the waters of the pond reflecting the castle's ruins. Nowadays also one of the towers is open for tourists.

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