Laeken Cemetery
The Laeken Cemetery (French: Cimetière de Laeken, Dutch: Begraafplaats van Laken) in Brussels is the city's oldest cemetery still in function and resting place of the Belgian Royal Family. It is known as the "Belgian Père Lachaise" because it is the burial place of the rich and the famous and for the abundance of its funerary heritage.
 View of the Church of Our Lady of Laeken | |
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1275 |
| Location | |
| Country | Belgium |
| Coordinates | 50°52′46″N 4°21′11″E |
| Type | Public, non-denominational |
| Size | 6.3 hectares (16 acres) |
| Find a Grave | Cimetière de Laeken |
Description
The installation of the Belgian Royal Family in 1831 and the burial of Queen Louise in 1850 contributed to the appeal of Laeken.
The cemetery houses very fine examples of nineteenth-century funerary art and also features an original bronze cast of Auguste Rodin's Thinker, purchased in 1927 by the antiquarian and art collector Josef Dillen to use as his own memorial. Next to the entrance, there is a small museum dedicated to the sculptor Ernest Salu (1845-1923) and his successors.
The adjacent Church of Our Lady of Laeken is the site of the Royal Crypt of Belgium, consecrated in 1872.
Notable interments
- Alphonse Balat, architect
- Camille Jenatzy, race-car driver
- Charles Auguste de Bériot, violinist and composer
- Fernand Khnopff, painter
- Jacques Coghen, finance minister and ancestor of Philippe of Belgium
- Joseph Poelaert, architect
- Louis-Joseph Seutin, surgeon
- Léon Suys, architect
- Augustus van Dievoet, jurisconsult
- Maria Malibran, opera singer, with a work by sculptor Guillaume Geefs[1]
- Michel de Ghelderode, writer
- Parthon de Von family
Graves
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See also
References
- The American cyclopaedia: a popular dictionary of general knowledge, Volume 10 By George Ripley, Charles Anderson Dana
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