From the gorgeous Art Nouveau style of the Cauchie House our trail brings us to the otherworldly, Gothic beauty of the Diegem Cemetery. Created in 1866 as the last resting place for the many victims of a terrible outbreak of cholera.
Disused since 1958, it is said that most of its tombs are no longer tended as relatives of the dead are long gone themselves. But I think they are all very well tended – by nature…
… that climbs and lovingly embraces the stone with lush, green ivy…
… oxidizing the iron crosses and emblems, covering them in that warm rusty red patina of time…
Jewish and Catholic graves and mausoleums, venerable imposing art harmoniously side-by-side; the irony of being united in death by the very religions that divide in life…
Tombstones slowly sinking into the ground; it felt soft under the feet…
Nostalgic mementos of lives I shall never know…
A discreet sign directs to the place where Hergé is laid to rest; a special permission was obtained to bury him here since the cemetery is not open to new inhabitants for the past 60 odd years.
The Dieweg cemetery is situated in Uccle, one of Brussels’ most affluent suburbs with beautiful detached houses and plush gardens. It is open to public daily and, apart from the odd guided tour, offers quite, solitary, slightly melancholy walks to the incurably romantic.
Dieweg 95
1180 Brussels
Walked on Sunday 09 March, 2014.
Photography by Konstantinos Implikian
Lia in Brussels 