A Date with My Spouse and Other People's Ancestors

I love old cemeteries.  I realize that some people find them to be creepy, but I think they're beautiful.  From my perspective, gravestones and cemetery monuments are works of art, and they offer a great window into the past.  Plus, cemetery landscapes are often lovely.  Knowing his spouse well, J.D. asked me on a date to a nearby cemetery that he had discovered a few weeks ago but didn't get the chance to explore.  It was a great date (for this history-geek)!

 

Remembering the Anti-Fascist Fighters
(in both Croatian and Italian)

Red stars commemorating the anti-fascist fighters

   

Holocaust memorial

Old Jewish section of the cemetery

The Kozala cemetery is a few blocks from our apartment.  After doing a bit of internet searching, I learned that this cemetery was founded in 1838 and includes the works of the famous sculptors and architects working in Rijeka at the turn of the twentieth century.  J.D. and I were struck by many things in this cemetery, including...the fact that the far majority of the grave sites were above ground, like they are in New Orleans...the interesting mix of names; often grave stones with Croatian names were right next to those with Italian names (Rijeka was part of Italy for much of the early twentieth century)...and the way the cemetery showed the turbulent history of this region.

Laura