Old town cemetery (Mülheim an der Ruhr)

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Old town cemetery

The old town cemetery, also known as the “old cemetery”, is a cemetery established in 1812 in Mülheim an der Ruhr . Today it is a park-like green area in Mülheim's Altstadt I district . The entire cemetery area is now a listed building. The old town cemetery with its tombs of simple citizens, municipal and ecclesiastical superiors and entrepreneurial families is an important testimony to the history of Mülheim and a document of historical burial culture.

history

Gatehouse on Kettwiger Strasse

The old town cemetery was consecrated on November 12, 1812. Initially, the cemetery only comprised a narrow strip of land on both sides of the Friedhofweg, but was gradually expanded between 1835 and 1878 through acquisitions of garden land. The old town cemetery was administered by the two evangelical parishes until 1835, after which the mayors' signatures on the inheritance certificates document the transfer of administration to the city. In 1889 the gatehouse was built on Kettwiger Straße with a cemetery keeper's apartment and a mourning room. At the turn of the century, the Friedhofweg was expanded as a connecting road between Schulstraße and Oberstraße and the cemetery along the road was surrounded by walls. In the course of these measures, the northern part was closed for burial in row graves . Until 1909, hereditary burials were still allowed to take place in unoccupied graves . In 1907 the mourning hall was built and the cemetery reached its final size. With the opening of the main cemetery on April 15, 1916, the southern part of the old cemetery was closed for burials in row graves. Burials in election graves were possible until they were completely closed in 1967. Hereditary funerals were still held in 1981 and 1991 with special permission.

The old town cemetery today

The enclosure of the northern part was removed as early as after the Second World War . Today it is designed as an open green area and only a few grave monuments remind of its earlier use. Since 1968, the northern boundary has been the memorial designed by Gerhard Marcks for the fallen of both world wars.

On September 20, 1984 the old town cemetery was placed under monument protection. Since 1988 urn burials have been possible again in the southern part. In particular, sponsorships for graves are possible in order to preserve the cemetery and its historical structure. The godfather undertakes to horticultural care of the grave as well as to the preservation and, if necessary, to the restoration of the listed structures and thereby acquires the right to place up to four urns on the grave site.

Important tombs

Family grave of Joseph Thyssen
Location map
Tomb of Hugo Stinnes

In the northern part

In the southern part

Sources and references

  1. ↑ Monument list no . 76th Monument Authority of the City of Mülheim an der Ruhr, accessed on November 5, 2011 .
  2. ↑ Working group of local history associations in Mülheim (ed.): Historically significant personalities of the city of Mülheim ad Ruhr, Mülheim 1984

literature

  • Melanie Rimpel: The old cemetery / old town cemetery. In: Geschichtsverein Mülheim an der Ruhr eV (Hrsg.): Witnesses of the city's history. Architectural monuments and historical places in Mülheim an der Ruhr. Klartext Verlag , Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-89861-784-0 .
  • Hans Weber: Burial sites in Mülheim in the past and present. In: 900 years of Mülheim an der Ruhr: 1093–1993 ( Journal of the History Association , issue 66), Mülheim an der Ruhr 1993, pp. 521–546.
  • Bärbel Essers: The Old Town Cemetery: A walk through the history of Mülheim . Sutton, Erfurt 2014, ISBN 978-3954004683

Web links

Commons : Altstadtfriedhof Mülheim an der Ruhr  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 25 '23.3 "  N , 6 ° 53' 15.6"  E