Cities of the Dead: The world's most beautiful cemeteries

Description

Discover the fascinating stories of the world's most beautiful cemeteries, featuring spectacular photography, unique histories and famous residents. Cities of the Dead takes us on a tour of memorial sites, ranging from monastic settlements to grand cathedrals, Shinto shrines to Gothic chapels, tombs and crypts. Enjoy tales of myths and monsters, grave-robbers, pilgrimages, spiritual retreats, remembrance and community. Marvel in cemeteries with a hundred thousand to a handful of graves which feature famous headstones, weeping angels, ocean views, woodlands, thousands of glowing lanterns and a tomb of poets. From London's famous Highgate Cemetery, which houses famous names from Karl Marx to Malcolm McLaren, George Eliot to Christina Rosetti, to Hawaii's breathtaking Valley of the Temples, and Sydney's Waverley Cemetery, this book spans the globe to bring you the most fascinating, intriguing and evocative cemeteries across cultures and continents. Together with evocative images, the stories behind these notable burial sites bring these sanctuaries to life, detailing the features that make them special, highlighting both similarities and differences between time periods, religions and cultures, and showing how cemeteries are about and for the living as much as the dead.

Yolanda Zappaterrais a London-based author, editor and researcher who has been writing about architecture, art and travel for 20 years. She contributes regularly to leisure, lifestyle and art and design magazines. Her books include Amazing Art Adventures and Escape London.