Nordfriedhof (Cologne)
The Cologne North Cemetery is a municipal cemetery in the Cologne district of Weidenpesch in the Nippes district .
General
The north cemetery was laid out at the end of the 19th century as a result of the increasing shortage of burial places both in the many small cemeteries in the city and in the Melaten cemetery , which was the only central cemetery in Cologne on the left bank of the Rhine. The new "relief cemetery", originally laid out on a 28 hectare area of a former gravel pit , was opened on May 18, 1896 . The park-like character of the cemetery with its system of paths curved around a central axis is due to the concept of the Cologne gardening director at the time, Adolf Kowallek , who created the complex based on the model of the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg . At the same time, the administration building was built in the Rhenish neo-Gothic style in the entrance area . Around 1920, a mourning hall intended for 80 mourners was built near the main entrance, an elegantly proportioned building in the style of neoclassicism .
After the Second World War , the cemetery grounds were extensively expanded. The old part and the approximately twice as large extension areas north of it are now separated by Schmiedegasse. The total size of the cemetery is 479100 m², on which there are 44550 graves. A new mourning hall was built in the new part in the 1960s. The old mourning hall has not been used as such since then and threatened to deteriorate, but has now been leased to a Ukrainian Orthodox parish and is used by them as a house of prayer.
Similar to Melaten and many other Cologne cemeteries, the north cemetery is also a large park-like green area that encompasses the north green axis ( Blücherpark in the west and Weidenpescher Park in the east between the inner and outer green belts ) together with the open railway systems and the The motorway to Neuss, which has been kept free from development, is supplemented and strengthened, thus contributing to the ventilation of the city. Today the cemetery is one of the most used burial places in Cologne and also offers space for local recreation .
Graves of important people
- Frank Barufski (1905–1991), actor and radio play speaker (Corridor 2 H19–20). The tomb was closed.
- Robert Gerling (1878–1935), entrepreneur, founder of the Gerling insurance group (old part, central axis on the right). This tomb, a neoclassical travertine memorial with several reliefs, is an architecturally remarkable building from the time of National Socialism .
- Trude Herr (1927–1991), actress (hallway 27 on the corner)
- CO Paeffgen (1933–2019), painter and sculptor (anonymously in hall 83)
- Hugo Schmölz (1879–1938 ), photographer (hallway 10)
- Franz Wilhelm Seiwert (1894–1933), painter and sculptor (hall 14 b)
- Hann Trier (1915–1999), painter and graphic artist (Hall 32)
literature
- Günter Leitner: Cemeteries in Cologne . - In the middle of life. Cologne 2003, pp. 130-135.
- Josef Mahlmeister : Peace and quiet in the old north cemetery and the west cemetery in Cologne . A photo book with stories from Cologne. Palabros de Cologne, Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-9813632-1-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans M. Schmidt , The Last Signature - Graves of German Artists of the 20th Century , Verlag Dr Kovač, Hamburg 2015, p. 290.
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 44 ″ N , 6 ° 56 ′ 24 ″ E