Alter Garnisonsfriedhof

Cemetery park

Description

Berlin's oldest cemetery was re-landscaped and turned into a park many years ago. But here and there, iron crosses and tombstones arise from the lawn between the small gravel walkways, the branches of old oak trees hanging overhead. The faint sound of traffic encroaches only slightly over the high cemetery walls. In the late 19th century, authorities ordered that all cemeteries in the city centre be closed due to fears about hygiene. Yet military commanders successfully prevented the closing down of this particular cemetery, which is home to generations of Prussian officers. The Alter Garnisonsfriedhof remained in use until the end of WW II and was re-landscaped in the 1950s. A small exhibition in the building near the entrance documents the history of the cemetery.