Avalon Cemetery
The Avalon Cemetery is a cemetery in Soweto , a suburb of Johannesburg in South Africa . It is the largest cemetery in the country. Avalon Cemetery is a municipal facility and is managed by Johannesburg City Parks .
Geography and usage
The cemetery is located on Tshabuse Street in southwest Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg city center, and thus belongs to Region D, Zone 1 of the Metropolitan Municipality of Johannesburg. The main entrance is near the Chiawelo district on the N12 . It is around 1.7 km² in size and is administered by the City Parks authority, which looks after a total of 35 cemeteries. Over 10,000 people are buried in Avalon Cemetery each year; there have been more than 300,000 people since it was founded.
The cemetery is part of the South African Liberation Heritage Route (about: "Route of the South African Liberation Heritage "), which is said to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site .
Famous pepole
Numerous prominent fighters against apartheid were buried in Avalon Cemetery , including Lilian Ngoyi and Helen Joseph in a double grave, Hector Pieterson and Hastings Ndlovu , who had been shot in the Soweto uprising in 1976, Thomas Nkobi , Joe Slovo , and Zephania Mothopeng of the Pan Africanist Congress , Elias Motsoaledi , who was indicted in the Rivonia Trial , and Tsietsi Mashinini . The Heroes' Acre with many of these graves is located near the main entrance. The tomb of Ngoyi and Joseph was designated a national monument in 2010 .
Memorials
In the cemetery there is a memorial for the more than 500 victims of the Soweto uprising. Another memorial in the north of the cemetery commemorates the 616 South African victims - including 607 blacks - in the sinking of the Mendi in 1917. The memorial was unveiled in 1995 by the British Queen Elizabeth II .
history
Avalon Cemetery was set up exclusively for blacks in 1972, during the apartheid period. Previously, the Nancefield Cemetery in Klipspruit had been used from 1912 . In the 1970s and 1980s, there were frequent funerals with thousands of mourners, with protests and the singing of forbidden songs against the apartheid government.
At times, two dead were buried on top of each other to meet the lack of space. In the 2000s, around 5,000 trees were planted and paths were paved. In 2011, the Avalon Extension Cemetery was inaugurated for around 25,000 graves. Since then, Avalon Cemetery has only been used for second and third occupancies, which are only possible for close relatives of those buried there. Another cemetery ten kilometers south is planned.
Web links
- Avalon Cemetery on the city's website (English; archive version)
- Map of the 35 cemeteries in Johannesburg, No. 16 (PDF; 3.9 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i The Avalon Cemetery on the city's website ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ^ City of Johannesburg: Johannesburg City Parks . Cemeteries. at www.jhbcityparks.com (English), accessed August 13, 2013
- ^ Project proposal to UNESCO , accessed on August 10, 2013
- ↑ a b Report from a tour through Johannesburg ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ↑ Report on the city's website ( Memento from August 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ↑ Description of the memorial at allatsea.co.za ( Memento from April 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
Coordinates: 26 ° 17 ′ 47 ″ S , 27 ° 51 ′ 44 ″ E