WDEC 2025 in Oslo

As part of WDEC 2025, the Cemeteries and Burials Agency of Oslo invites you to a cultural event at Alfaset Cemetery commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

About the event

This year’s WDEC theme honors 80 years of peace in Europe, focusing on European cemeteries as memorial sites celebrating peace, inclusion, and justice.

On Monday, May 26, 2025, from 17:00 to 19:30, a special event will take place at Alfaset Cemetery (Nedre Kalbakkvei 99, 1081 Oslo, Norway), with the spotlight on the Occupation Power’s Gravesites in Oslo.

Program

The first part of the event will take place inside the Alfaset Chapel and will consist of three interesting lectures on the history, significance, and personal stories connected to foreign and German war graves in Oslo.

1.) Lecture by Janne Wilberg: The Honorary Cemetery at Ekeberg and the German Burial Machinery. Janne Wilberg is the former City Antiquarian of Oslo and has 15 years of experience and engagement in working with military cultural heritage for the Norwegian Defence Estates Agency.

2.) Lecture by Haakon Vinje: On the Foreign War Graves in Oslo and a Deep Dive into Individual Stories. Haakon Vinje is the head of the War Graves Service in the Ministry of Culture and Equality.

3.) Lecture by Kristian Ilner (Outdoors at the German war cemetery): Stories of Three of the Buried Individuals. Kristian Ilner is a history enthusiast and a lawyer who works as a political advisor in the Norwegian United Federation of Trade Unions, responsible for education and competence. He has written five books in total. The story of the German soldiers at Alfaset is his fourth book.

The second part of the event will take place outdoors at the cemetery and will feature a guided tour along with compelling stories about individuals buried in the German war section, offering a deeper, more personal perspective on the historical legacy of these gravesites.

Additional information

If you would like to participate, please send an email to Wenche Elizabeth Madsen Eriksson at wenche.eriksson@gpe.oslo.kommune.no.
For more information visit www.aktuelt.oslo.kommune.no.

Photo credits:

• First photo (War graves at Alfaset Cemetery): Naomi Wilde
• Second photo (Commemorative ceremony at the German war graves): Haakon Vinje

Lisbon's 2nd Cultural Week in Cemeteries

Between 7th and 15th October 2023, guided tours, concerts, photo exhibitions, workshops, virtual lectures, and other activities will take place at Lisbon's cemeteries.

About the 2nd Cultural Week in Cemeteries

Lisbon City Council's Cemetery Management Division, in partnership with various entities and associations linked to cemetery art and heritage, is organising the 2nd edition of Cultural Week in Cemeteries, to be held between 7th and 15th October 2023. This edition will be extended to the municipalities of Loures, Setúbal and Vila Franca de Xira, which have also joined the initiative.

Program

As in the previous year, there will be guided tours of Lisbon's cemeteries, including the British and German cemeteries. The highlight of this edition will be five new themed tours, comprising one for pre-school children.

The program will also include concerts, photographic exhibitions and workshops, virtual lectures, night visits and other activities. There will be Open Days, where participants will be able to go inside mausoleums and other cemetery buildings that are not usually accessible to the public. 

Overall, there will be more than 30 different activities, all free of charge but require prior registration by email. The program of all events can be found HERE.

For any further information, please contact cemiterios.visitas@cm-lisboa.pt.

WDEC 2022 in Ghent

From May 28 to June 5, 2022, as part of this year's Week of Discovering European Cemeteries, nature in Ghent cemeteries will be highlighted trough an interesting lecture and different guided tours.

Program

Opening Lecture "More than just tombstones" by Joeri Mertens

Saturday 28th of May, from 2 PM till 4 PM
Location: Cemetery Westerbegraafplaats
Free of charge - Registration is compulsory
More information: www.inschrijvingevenementen.gent.be

Memorial of the deceased by Contactpunt Waardige Uitvaart

Sunday 29th of May, from 2 PM
Location: Cemetery Westerbegraafplaats (Leliestraat)
Free of charge - No registration
Contact: Els De Smet, e-mail: waardige.uitvaart@cawoostvlaanderen.be – Tel.: 0479 433 227

Guided tour "More than a quiet green place" by Sophie Derom

Tuesday 31st of May, from 7.30 PM till 9.30 PM
Location: Cemetery Sint Denijs Westrem
Free of charge – Registration is compulsory
More information: www.inschrijvingevenementen.gent.be

Saturday 4th of June, from 2 PM till 4 PM
Location: Cemetery Sint Denijs Westrem
Free of charge - Registration is compulsory
More information: www.inschrijvingevenementen.gent.be

Guided tour "From Bronze Age burial place to nature cemetery" by Gunter Stoops & Maarten Herbots

Wednesday 1st of June, from 2 PM till 4 PM
Location: Cemetery Drongen
Free of charge – Registration is compulsory
More information: www.inschrijvingevenementen.gent.be

Sunday 5th of Juni, from 2 PM till 4 PM
Location: Cemetery Drongen
Free of charge – Registration is compulsory
More information:  www.inschrijvingevenementen.gent.be

Guided tour "How does the City of Ghent approach the management of Cemeteries" by Bavo Plaetsier en Lieve Destoop (only for guides)

Thursday 2nd of June, from 7.30 PM till 9.30 PM
Location: Cemetery Westerbegraafplaats 
Free of charge – Registration is compulsory
More information: www.inschrijvingevenementen.gent.be

Guided tour "Environmentally friendly nature management at the Westerbegraafplaats" by Bavo Plaetsier

Friday 3rd of June, from 7.30 PM till 9.30 PM
Location: Cemetery Westerbegraafplaats 
Free of charge – Registration is compulsory
More information:  www.inschrijvingevenementen.gent.be

Sunday 5th of Juni, from 10 AM till 12 AM
Location: Cemetery Westerbegraafplaats 
Free of charge – Registration is compulsory
More information:  www.inschrijvingevenementen.gent.be

Independent cemetery visits

You can always discover the cemeteries of Ghent on your own:

• Family tour at cemetery Westerbegraafplaats
• Heritage tour at cemetery Campo Santo
• Heritage tour at cemetery Zuiderbegraafplaats
• A guided tour at a cemetery in Ghent

Additional information about the WDEC events in Ghent are available HERE.

An ASCE conference is only a start

From the discovery of the Flemish and Brussels funerary heritage to the publication of a book and the development of a card game for children.

The AGM and Conference 2019

The City of Ghent (Belgium) hosted in 2019 the ASCE Annual General Meeting & Conference. Although the presentations, the conversations between the participants and the discovery of the Flemish and Brussels funerary heritage were the main objectives of the organising committee, some two years later the return is much bigger than four wonderful and intense days.

International friendships were made and are maintained. A like on Facebook or Instagram, the sharing of fascinating posts, photos of each other's work and shared interests inspire us in our daily work, bind us internationally together and make us long for a return visit.

But there is more.

The Ghent ASCE AGM & Conference has also meant a lot for Flanders itself. People, organisations and cities who worked together on the conference got to know each other better and learned about each other’s work. We know better now who to contact with questions, ideas and concerns. An e-mail is quicker send and a phone call is easier made. Experiences are shared and more inventive solutions are implemented.

Publication of a book

Those contacts resulted this spring in a book that is pioneering for Flanders and fills a void: Memento Mori, In dialoog met de begraafplaats (Memento Mori: in dialogue with the cemetery). The book is based on the same ideas as the conference: use, shared use and re-use. But it goes further than that and looks at the design of the cemetery as a place for mourning, evolutions through time and the handling of our heritage as an obvious task for the cemetery manager. It has become a book about the place of the (historical) cemetery in our modern society. The cemetery as a space for the bereaved, the local resident and the visitor. The place to deal consciously with death, burial, last wishes, farewells and memories.

Without the ASCE conference, this book might never have become a reality. Initiators of the book are Lieve Destoop of the City of Ghent and Tamara Ingels of Intro Cultuur en Media / Grafzerkje. Several of the authors were speakers at the ASCE conference such as Nandy Dolman, Marc De Bie, Maarten Herbots and Hendrik de Bouvre or hosted a chair such as Joeri Mertens. The book was presented on the occasion of the opening of the 2021 Week of Discovering European Cemeteries (WDEC) in Flanders and Brussels.

It does not stop there. 

Activities during WDEC 

The Corona pandemic has taught us all to organise a variety of activities during the WDEC instead of the classical guided visits. Self-guided walks in small groups, family activities, a special attention towards children and online lectures became increasingly popular.

The city of Ghent, together with Intro Cultuur en Media, has therefor developed a card game for children called Speurneuzen (detectives). It's a game that allows parent and children to talk about death, burial and heritage in an active yet playful and fun way. The project is not site-specific and can be used at any cemetery. The Dutch cards can be downloaded and there even is a nice little box to fit the cards in. You can make the box yourself and it’s great fun to colour and decorate it together with the kids.

On the last Sunday morning of WDEC, Marc De Bie presented the aperitif lecture The origins of burial and family: a prehistoric perspective. From behind their screens, he took visitors on a journey to Belgian prehistory and the story of life, family and death in our distant past.

The impact of AGM & Conference

To say that the ASCE AGM & Conference 2019 has put funerary heritage on the Flemish map is perhaps an exaggeration, but it has certainly given it a boost and brought people and ideas together.

Altogether we now reflect, think and write even more passionately about the values of our common funerary heritage resting in our cemeteries.

Joeri Mertens
Heritage Flanders

You can access the original article HERE.

Athens: lecture by Dr. Julie Rugg about Cemeteries in Western culture

ASCE is helping grow the international scientific cooperation in Europe.

WDEC 2017 - Open Air Classroom and Free Guided Tour at the New Cemetery in Belgrade

  

Students of Belgrade University had a Theme Lecture Organized at the New Cemetery in Belgrade

WDEC 2016: Symbols at Cemetery Pobrežje (Maribor, Slovenia)

During the Week of Discovering European Cemeteries 2016, Pogrebno podjetje Maribor will organize a special lecture and presentation of the guide "Symbols at Cemetery Pobrežje".

Lectures at Kensal Green Cemetery and a Dickens Fellowship event

Two lectures and a Dickens Fellowship event will take place at Kensal Green Cemetery in June and July 2015.