Cemetery of the Dutch-German Congregation
The cemetery of the Dutch-German Congregation is a burial place in Livorno , Via Mastacchi.
The cemetery is the place for the burial of the deceased members of the Protestant community in Livorno, which has been present in Livorno since the 17th century. Today it is in decline.
history
Around the year 1600 the members of the Dutch-German nation were predominantly Catholic and had their own altar and burial place in the Chiesa della Madonna. As a result, the Reformed portion increased so that the building of a church and a separate cemetery became necessary. At the beginning of the 17th century, the deceased Protestants were buried in a garden made available by Lambert Constant from Liège, a member of the Congregation , in the area in front of the gate to Pisa (beyond today's Piazza della Repubblica).
A real cemetery was not created until 1683, when a piece of land on the road to Pisa (today's Via Garibaldi) was jointly bought by the Dutch and the Hamburgers. It was called the Garden of the Dutch because of the numerous rare plants in it that made it look like a botanical garden. The beauty of the place, like a garden, impressed the German Georg Christoph Martini so much during his stay in Livorno that he wanted to be buried there (1745).
In the 19th century the cemetery was closed due to the large expansion of the city. In coordination with the Greek Orthodox community, the congregation chose a new piece of land further away from the city on today's Via Mastacchi for the burial of the deceased members. Protestants and Orthodox commissioned Olinto Paradossi to draw up a joint plan for the construction of their own cemeteries.
description
The Protestant cemetery in Via Mastacchi, built in 1840, fits into a rectangular plot of land and borders the Greek Orthodox cemetery to the east. It is surrounded by a high wall and is accessible through a wrought iron gate. Inside there is a central ossuary that was only built in 1931.
The graves are generally kept very simple and in the same way as laid down in a constitution of the congregation. The tombs from the older Dutch garden that were brought here around 1930 appear less severe. The latter were used as paving for the footpaths, which explains some of the inscriptions from before the opening in the 19th century.
In the cemetery you can find the graves of well-known families from Livorno, such as the "Mayer" and the "Kotzian". The tomb of the Stub-Chun family deserves special mention, it shows two allegorical figures and is roofed by a triangular pediment.
literature
- S. Ceccarini: I giardini della Congregazione Olandese-Alemanna . In: Il Pentagono , n.1, gennaio / febbraio 2011, pp. 6-8.
- G. Panessa, M. Del Nista (a cura di): La Livorno delle Nazioni. I luoghi della memoria . Livorno 2006.
- G. Piombanti: Guida storica ed artistica della città e dei dintorni di Livorno . Livorno 1903.
Web links
Coordinates: 43 ° 33 ′ 45 ″ N , 10 ° 19 ′ 28 ″ E