ASCE President at the International Conference in Nova Gorica

ASCE President, Mrs. Lidija Pliberšek, participated in the International Conference on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, held from April 14 to 16, 2025.

About the event

From April 14 to 16, 2025, the ASCE President, Mrs. Lidija Pliberšek, participated in the International Conference "Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe: Recognition and Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Cross-Border Regions", held in the cross-border towns of Gorizia (Italy), Nova Gorica, and Tolmin (Slovenia).

The event gathered representatives of the Council of Europe’s Cultural Routes, cultural heritage experts, local community representatives, and partners of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) to explore the role of Cultural Routes in fostering cross-border cooperation and preserving shared heritage.

Presentation of ASCE and European Cemeteries Route

As part of the official conference program, Mrs. Pliberšek presented the work of ASCE and the European Cemeteries Route, a certified Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. In her presentation, cemeteries were portrayed as complex cultural landscapes with multiple dimensions: spaces of remembrance and burial, carriers of cultural and historical narratives, and increasingly as destinations for respectful, value-based tourism.

ASCE President also highlighted several key ASCE projects and the Park of Remembrance in Maribor, Slovenia, opened as part of the European Capital of Culture 2012, as a cross-border symbol of shared memory of the victims of the First and Second World Wars and post-war killings – without divisions and without judgments of values.

Her presentation emphasized the significance of cemeteries and the European Cemeteries Route in fostering cross-border cultural awareness and preserving Europe’s diverse heritage.

You can find the event program HERE.

Funeral arrangements for minorities and migrants

Short presentation of the project "Cemeteries and Crematoria as public spaces of belonging in Europe: a study of migrant and minority cultural inclusion, exclusion and integration".

About the research

This HERA-funded CeMi project has researched the issue of cemeteries and crematoria not being inclusive enough regarding minorities and migrants in a modern multicultural Europe. The aim was to find possible solutions for this situation and present lessons for policy makers, politicians, and stakeholders at all levels, that will help to build more inclusive and heritage-sensitive communities.

The study was carried out on the example of 6 European countries: Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, and Sweden but it could certainly be applied to many other countries in Europe and the world.

You can find out more about the project at this LINK.

Presentation of the results

A public presentation of the study will be held on November 17, 2022, from 1.00 to 2.30, at the Netherlands House for Education and Research (NETH-ER), 22, rue d'Arlon, 1050 Brussels.

The presentation will include the final report on funeral arrangements for minorities and migrants in the aforementioned countries as well as some recommendations for future improvements.

The individual articles are available HERE.

The number of places at the presentation is limited so registration is required.

Animation video about this topic

Researchers worked with animator Stacy Bias to provide an overview of different religious and secular practices in cemeteries and crematoria. The animation video seeks to highlight that the enablement of different ritual and spatial requirements is important for the provision of inclusive public cemeteries and crematoria.

*The cover image is symbolic. Source: Pixabay

Urban cemeteries as public spaces: comparison of the Norwegian and Russian case studies

Contemporary cemeteries are intriguing examples of “in-between” places with no clear cut between public and private, civic and personal.

Planners and policy makers often see urban cemeteries as utilitarian burial grounds. However, evidence from different countries demonstrate that their role is more complex. The findings of a Norwegian research projects “Green Urban Spaces – the role of the cemetery in multicultural and interreligious urban contexts” (2014-2017) show that the cemeteries in Oslo are actively used for recreation and perceived by many of their users as green places of restoration. Is such cemetery multifunctionality just a Norwegian phenomenon or we can find similarities in other cultures?

For the comparison, this paper brings empirical evidences from Vvedenskoe cemetery (opened in 1771) in the Russian capital in Moscow. The study partly replicates the above-mentioned Norwegian study adapted to the context of Moscow and employs systematic observations of people’s activities, participant observations and interviews with cemetery visitors. Among many other cemeteries in Moscow, I chose Vvedenskoe cemetery for this study because of its close proximity to housing areas, physical layout with two entrances and comparatively wide alleys and mature vegetation.

The results show that people come to Vvedenskoe cemetery not only to visit their relatives’ graves, although it is the main activity there and more common comparing to the Norwegian case. Thanks to the big amount of heritage graves and special spiritual atmosphere Vvedenskoe cemetery is an attractive place for excursions, especially focused on arts and history. For many of the interviewees this cemetery was included into their everyday life as a place for strolling and reflections, which is similar to the findings from Oslo. Another important aspect for the visitors is the greenery of Vvedenskoe cemetery, which provides an opportunity of the contact with nature for the local residents. The Norwegian researchers had similar observations in case of Oslo. While the range and frequency of recreational activities in Vvedenskoe cemetery is lower than in the studied cemeteries in Norway, the findings clearly show that its role in the city is not limited to the utilitarian functions of a burial ground.

So far academic research of the role of urban cemeteries was focused on Northern Europe and North America and cross-cultural comparative cemetery research almost does not exist, except very few examples. In times of globalisation, cemeteries are among very small number of urban places, which are so culturally and contextually dependent and vary greatly from country to country. On the contrary, to many comparative studies in other fields, which aim to find generalised knowledge and best practices, comparative cemetery research cannot have the same goal because of the importance of the local context. However, I believe that it can give deeper and more nuanced understanding of a cemetery as a phenomenon and its potential. Policymakers and practitioners around the world are starting to acknowledge cemeteries’ multifunctional potential which is especially relevant for fast growing cities with increasing demand for green spaces, such as Oslo and Copenhagen. 

About the author

Pavel Grabalov is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Landscape and Society of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). He holds a Master’s degree in Urban Studies from Malmö University (2017) and has interests in urban planning and people-environment interaction. His current PhD project focuses on the role of cemeteries in contemporary densified cities. Pavel’s research aims to build new interdisciplinary knowledge on urban cemeteries as a special type of public spaces, using case studies from Scandinavian and Russian cultural contexts.

The above article has been prepared for the ASCE Conference 2019 in Ghent, Belgium. The article-related presentation is available HERE.

You can read more about Pavel Grabalov’s academic research on new cemetery policies in Oslo and Copenhagen in: Pavel Grabalov, Helena Nordh, “’Philosophical park’: Cemeteries in the Scandinavian urban context”, Social Studies, Vol. 17:1, https://journals.muni.cz/socialni_studia/article/view/13559. 

The evolution of the landscape of the Old Jewish cemetery of Thessaloniki: an extreme case of reusage

An interesting case study about the Old Jewish cemetery of Thessaloniki in Greece that was presented at the AGM 2019.

Introduction

A landscape can change as radically as to be destroyed and reconstructed even more than once.

Such is the case of the landscape of the Old Jewish cemetery of Thessaloniki in Greece. At first, during the German occupation, the cemetery was destroyed, and afterwards, the area became a large portion of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).

You can find the original poster with the case study HERE.

Author: Angelina Lagou (Student of Geography at the Harokopio University of Athens)