Cimetière de Roubaix
The Cimetière de Roubaix is the largest municipal cemetery in the northern French city of Roubaix . It houses around 30,000 tombs and was built at its current location in the mid-19th century as a result of the rapid expansion of the urban area and the enormous population growth. With over 500 mausoleums, the cemetery has the largest number of grave chapels in Europe.
location
The square cemetery with an area of 17 hectares is located in the Entrepont district to the east of the city center and is separated from the latter by the Canal de Roubaix .
It has three entrances: The main entrance is on the Grand'Rue on the southern border of the cemetery. Another entrance is on the opposite side of the cemetery on Rue de Cartigny . The third entrance is at the junction of Rue Ampère , which reaches the cemetery via a bridge over the Canal de Roubaix. The Quai de Rouen runs to the north and the Quai de Toulon to the south along the cemetery.
layout
Long, uninterrupted paths lead through the Roubaix cemetery in a north-west-south-east direction and in a perpendicular direction, dividing it into about 40 squares. These squares themselves are provided with smaller entrances and paths.
Some of the paths, especially along the longitudinal axis of the cemetery, are planted with rows of trees.
The cemetery reflects the history of the city, which can be seen in the lavishly designed tombs, chapels and mausoleums of the industrial and commercial families along the main routes and the burial grounds of the poorer working-class families behind or behind.
Like numerous cemeteries in northern France, this one also has a separate part that is used as a military cemetery and houses the fallen of the two world wars as well as the fallen of the Resistance and some civilian war victims.
Specially designed graves
- The tomb of the Frasez family
- The chapel of the industrialist Amédée Prouvost
- The grave monument of the Bulteaum-Mimerel family
- The sarcophagus of Constantine Descat, Mayor of Roubaix
- The neo-Gothic chapel of the industrialist Louis Motte-Bossut
- The brick chapel by Eugène Motte, Mayor of Roubaix
history
Before the Roubaix cemetery found its current location in the west of the city, it was relocated several times. As was customary in medieval cities, the cemetery surrounded the Église Saint-Martin in the city center. When the city center cemeteries were considered to be the cause of epidemics - Roubaix was hit by the plague three times in the 17th and 18th centuries - the cemetery was moved outside the city area. The numerous plague victims, especially from poor families, often did not find their last burial place in the cemetery, but were buried in mass graves along today's Rue de l'Espérance (German street of hope ).
Due to the hygienic precautions, the cemetery of the Champ de Beaurewaert was opened in 1804 , but three years later it turned out to be too small.
As a result, the Cimetière du Fresnoy was opened in 1809 on the site where the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Industries Textile (ENSAIT) is today. However, the explosive increase in the population was not expected here either, but it was assumed that this would not exceed the 12,000 inhabitants by the end of the century. In fact, due to the flourishing textile industry , the population was to exceed 120,000 in 1900. Therefore, the Cimetière du Fresnoy reached its limits as early as 1847 and was located within it due to the equally unexpected expansion of the urban area.
This led to the abandonment of the cemetery in favor of today's Cimetière des Roubaix , which originally comprised only four hectares, but soon reached the 17 hectares it measures today.
See also: History of Roubaix
Monuments
Behind the main entrance of the cemetery is the monument to the victims of labor and the fulfillment of duty (French monument aux Victimes du travail et du devoir ). It was erected to commemorate the tragedy of November 5, 1883, when dozens of workers were trapped in a fire in the Dillies Frères factory on Rue des Filatures and died. The monument was inaugurated a year later and dedicated to all victims of industrial accidents.
Next to this monument there used to be another to commemorate those who fell in the Franco-Prussian War , which was later removed.
Another memorial for war victims is located at the junction of the Boulevard de Gaulle (during the inauguration still Boulevard de Paris ), which was designed by the sculptor Descatoires and erected in 1925 in memory of the victims of the First World War . The monument was moved a few hundred meters from its original location in the 1970s.
Another monument in the form of a wayside shrine and a crypt in the geometric center of the cemetery was erected in memory of the dead deans and pastors of the city.
At the side entrance along the canal is a memorial to the first socialist mayor of Roubaix, Henri Carette, during whose tenure this side entrance was opened.
Famous people buried in the cemetery
- Louis Catrice, well-known chansonnier from Roubaix
- Rémy Cogghe (1854–1935), painter
- Charles Crupelandt (1886–1955), cyclist and two-time winner of the Paris – Roubaix race
- Constantine Descat († 1878), Mayor of Roubaix
- Jean-Baptiste Glorieux (1724–1797), balloonist
- Jean-Baptiste Lebas († 1944), mayor and member of the Resistance
- Achille Lepers, civil rights activist and MP under Henri Carette
- Eugène Motte († 1932), industrialist and mayor of Roubaix
- Louis Motte-Bossut, industrialist
- Amédée Prouvost, industrialist
- Victor Provo, Mayor of Roubaix
- Alfred Reboux, print shop owner and managing owner of the Journal de Roubaix (now Nord-Éclair )
- Jean Joseph Weerts (1847–1927), painter
literature
- Philippe Waret and Jean-Pierre Popelier: Roubaix de A à Z. Section Jardins de pierre, p. 73ff. Editions Alain Sutton, Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, 2006, ISBN 2-84910-459-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Video: ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Toussaint: visit du cimetière de Roubaix. Report from the French broadcaster TF1 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 41 ′ 54.1 ″ N , 3 ° 11 ′ 20.7 ″ E