I was horrified when I discovered that cemeteries in the UK allow bodies or ashes to remain only 25 years. This is becoming increasingly common in the UK.
You can't get graves of spouses or children alongside each other either. Years ago you had family burial plots, mausoleums.
The new system means in 25 years a widow or widower will die, then if there are no descendants the grave is lost.
A whole generation of monuments disappear. The records of what people died of and how long they lived and their profession. Genealogists will lose whole generations.
It is not as if Australia or the USA are short of land. What about the Desert? Or even skyscrapers of the dead and multi-level basements.
At the current cost, it's cheaper to bury somebody in a back garden, with more chance in some countries that the gravestone and grave contents will remain.
In Singapore, some cemeteries have been dug up to make way for buildings or motorways. In one area of Singapore, the graves were meticulously recorded by a group devoted to photographing all the inscriptions.
Now you can look online for Find a grave and send volunteers or paid researchers to visit the graves you have found and take pictures.
When my family stopped paying the annual fees which would have granted a burial place, I was taken aback. However, you have to consider the cost of an expat being transported back to the home country.
In addition, apparently, if your body is returned to the UK for burial, even though you have lived abroad, you are charged inheritance tax in the UK.
Do visit cemetereis while you can. I did a wonderful tour of the cemetery in New Orelans, but it was closed later.
If you want to visit graves of the famous and the war heroes and the masses, here are some well known cemeteries and graves of famous people:
MUSEUMS, GRAVES & MONUMENTS
AUSTRIA: Musicians' graves in Vienna.
CHINA: tombs of modern leaders. Xian terracotta warriors.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Prague: Jewish trail includes historic cemetery with guided tour.
EGYPT: Pyramids were tombs of Pharaohs.
FRANCE: Jules Vernes; Pere LaChaise cemetery, Paris; Normandy battlefields.
GERMANY: Belsen marker for Anne Frank (and sister Margot) at one point removed so that she was not taking precedence over and attention away from the many others who died there.
ITALY: Composer Puccini house and mounument.
JAPAN: Iwo Jima US cemetery.
MEXICO: Trotsky museum in his house with his grave.
NETHERLANDS; WWII cemeteries and memorials such Arnhem.
POLAND: Auschwitz. Chopin. Zamenof who invented Esperanto international language.
RUSSIA: Tombs of leaders such as Lenin.
SCOTLAND: Devoted dog monument near cemetery.
SINGAPORE: Changi Prison Museum and cemetery.
SPAIN. Madrid: Monument to the fallen.
TURKEY: Gallipoli. Engraving of magnanimous speech by Ataturk for former enemies. 'your sons buried here are now our sons ..."
UK : Hampstead; Highgate; Kensal Green. Scotland: grave to dog near cemetery in Edinburgh.
USA : Arlington, Virginia, near Washington DC. Monument to Lee's horse. Civil war cemetery. Read about Galveston and New Orleans.
WALES: Roman gravestone in Caerleon Roman Museum.
Useful Websites
AUSTRALIA
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-45298239# Australian rent a grave law
WORLDWIDE
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31837964 BBC article entitled The World Is Running Out Of Burial
Space
COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES & CEMETERIES
https://www.cwgc.org/find
findagrave.com
SINGAPORE
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/04/lee-kuan-yews-grandfathers-grave.html
visitsingapore.com
JEWISH CEMETERIES & RULES FOR MOURNERS AT FUNERALS
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2017/10/frank-talk-about-jewish-funeral.html
GREECE & ALEXANDER THE GREAT
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/07/looking-for-alexander-great-and-doing.html
CHOPIN
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-chopin-trail-museums-and-monuments.html
INDIANS WITHOUT GRAVESTONES, ANNE FRANK, SPIKE MILLIGAN'S STONE WORDING
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/05/an-indian-view-of-life-anne-frank-and.html
MAJOR CEMETERIES FOR GUIDED TOURS INCLUDE
UK
London, Highgate Cemetery (Karl Marx) and many other cemeteries
Kensal Green Cemetery
Cemetery in Hampstead
visitbritain.com
FRANCE
Pere LaChaise Cemetery, Paris. Pop stars and personalities.
Normandy battlefields and baattlefield tours.
ITALY
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2177/giacomo-puccini
JAPAN
https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/11933/Japanese-War-Cemetery-Iwo-Jima.htm
PORTUGAL
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g189158-d3856170-Reviews-Cemiterio_dos_Prazeres-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html
ROMANIA
Blue cemetery.
romaniatourism.com
SPAIN
visitspain.info
UK
visitlondon.com
USA
visittheusa.co.uk
Author
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my previous posts on cemeteries, funerals and burials and famous graves.
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