# The largest cemeteries in the world



## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

I was having a discussion with someone recently on the largest cemeteries in Paris, and then I realized there was no thread about the largest cemeteries of the world. Or maybe there was one a long time ago?

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to start a "ghastly" thread about cemeteries in the world, and see where are the largest ones. Please list the largest cemeteries in your city. Try to provide sources so people can double-check your figures. Write the area of cemeteries both in hectares (ha) and in acres. For conversion: 1 hectare = 2.471 acres and 1 acre = 0.404686 hectare.

Here are the largest cemeteries in Paris to start with. The source is: http://www.paris.fr/portail/Parcs/Portal.lut?page_id=1702.

Paris cemetery of Pantin-Bobigny: 107 ha (264 acres)
Paris cemetery of Thiais: 103 ha (255 acres)
Paris cemetery of Bagneux: 61.5 ha (152 acres)
Paris cemetery of Père-Lachaise: 44 ha (109 acres)

Waiting for cemeteries in your city now... R.I.P.


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## gonzo (Jul 30, 2006)

The largest is Wadi al-Salam in Iraq.(1485.5 acres)









...I don't live there though.


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## gonzo (Jul 30, 2006)

Ottawa- 160 acres (Beechwood cemetery)
-wikipedia.com


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## bay_area (Dec 31, 2002)

I dont know but Colma, a small town just south of San Francisco is home to 1-2 thousand living people and is the burial place of 4-5 Million dead people.


creepy. :runaway:


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## eulogy (Apr 29, 2005)

The Rookwood Necropolis in Sydney is 283 hectares (707 acres).

800,000 people are buried there


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## SHiRO (Feb 7, 2003)

brisavoine said:


> I was having a discussion with someone recently on the largest cemeteries in Paris, and then I realized there was no thread about the largest cemeteries of the world. Or maybe there was one a long time ago?


And then you decided to post this thread in Citytalk?
Perfectely logical!

Some ideas for other threads:

Largest aluminium pole in the world
Largest square which isn't really a square in the world
Largest wooden shack in the world...
Largest tent making factory in the world...
Largest artificial beach in the world...
Largest supplier of green crayons in the world...
Largest gumball machine in the world...
Largest heap of steaming elephant dung in the world...

Have fun...I won't...


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

I don't know but in Manila, there are a whole lot of cemeteries!!!


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## opulence (Aug 13, 2006)

eulogy said:


> The Rookwood Necropolis in Sydney is 283 hectares (707 acres).
> 
> 800,000 people are buried there


creepy..


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## ToRoNto g-town (Nov 26, 2005)

bay_area said:


> I dont know but Colma, a small town just south of San Francisco is home to 1-2 thousand living people and is the burial place of 4-5 Million dead people.
> 
> 
> creepy. :runaway:


question.... is that the cemetry that is in the movie cruel intention? if soo its HUGEEEEEEEEEE n i kno that one was in or around SF


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## Unsing (Apr 15, 2006)

Here is the list of the cemeteries _operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Goverment_. The three largest are not in the city.

Tama - 128 ha
Yabashira - 105 ha
Kodaira - 65 ha
Aoyama - 26 ha
Zoshigaya - 11 ha
Yanaka - 10 ha
Somei - 7 ha


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## gonzo (Jul 30, 2006)

> is that the cemetry that is in the movie cruel intention? if soo its HUGEEEEEEEEEE n i kno that one was in or around SF


I'm pretty sure that movie was set mostly/entirely in NYC. Do you remember a certain lesbian kiss in Central Park? :naughty:


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## JustHorace (Dec 17, 2005)

*Manila American Cemetery and War Memorial - The largest outside the US*


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## Arpels (Aug 9, 2004)

they occupy a great area :uh:


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## Theremin (Oct 13, 2002)

Cementerio de La Almudena, Madrid (Spain).










*About 121 Ha.*


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## staff (Oct 23, 2004)

Hey, SHiRO, is that the Copenhagen Stock Market building on your avatar?


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## SHiRO (Feb 7, 2003)

staff said:


> Hey, SHiRO, is that the Copenhagen Stock Market building on your avatar?


:yes:


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## whereisflat (Jun 6, 2006)

I always wanted to know if Ankara has got the biggest of the world.


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## ToRoNto g-town (Nov 26, 2005)

gonzo said:


> I'm pretty sure that movie was set mostly/entirely in NYC. Do you remember a certain lesbian kiss in Central Park? :naughty:



ha yes i do.. but some of the landscape shots where set in sf ... i could b wrong tho


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## theBored (Jun 18, 2006)

The largest one in Budapest is Új köztemető : 207 ha (511 acres), 1.5 million dead people.


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## gronier (Mar 2, 2005)

Cementerio General, Santiago, Chile

2.500.000 people buried here, all chilean presidents are buried here.


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## ReddAlert (Nov 4, 2004)

SHiRO said:


> Largest tent making factory in the world...
> QUOTE]
> 
> 
> that would be located in ReddAlert's Pants...Milwaukee, WI, U.S.A.


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## MRichR (Jun 30, 2006)

Oak Ridge Cemetary, Springfield, Illinois. Second most visited cemetery in the U.S. (Arlington being number 1), and I believe the largest cemetery in Illinois at over 300 acres.



Burial place of Abraham Lincoln:









It also butts up against another cemetary, Calvary Cemetery (roughly 100 acres or so I believe), 










making a 400-500 acre area of continuous cemetery grounds.

On the other side of Springfield, there's the not as big, but quite impressive Camp Butler National Cemetery http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Butler_National_Cemetery :










As for the United States, the largest one is Rose Hill Cemetery in Whittier, California, at over 1,500 acres: http://www.rosehills.com/


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## marblewonder (Aug 12, 2006)

gonzo said:


> The largest is Wadi al-Salam in Iraq.(1485.5 acres)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Did they station troops there in case some dead terrorist decides to return from the dead?


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## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

Zentralfriedhof, Vienna (the sole really large one there, the rest are smaller district cementaries)

One of the very few cementeries I guess that were right from the start on multiconfessional (huge jewish part)

Size: 240 ha (about 600 acres)
Burried people: 3.3 million interred here. 

I find the idea nice that alone at our largest cementary double as much peoples are burried as our city has citizens.









http://www.friedhoefewien.at/eportal/ep/channelView.do/pageTypeId/13576/channelId/-26733

Is there any cementary with more burried people anywhere? Would be interesting...


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## Thuin (Sep 9, 2010)

Ohldorf cemetery, in Hamburg, claims to be the largest non-military cemetery in the world, with just under 400ha (much lesss, apparently, than Wadi al-Salam, but perhaps by "world" they meant "Europe and the US.") 

São Paulo has a lot of cemeteries, but none very large; the largest, at 76ha and 1,5M future zombies, is Vila Formosa; the first and most famous, Consolação, has 7,6ha:


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## GENIUS LOCI (Nov 18, 2004)

Wadi al Salam in Najaf is the world biggest because many Shiites (from Iraq and Iran too) want to be buried there as Imam Ali (the one who Shiites consider a sort of 'second profet' after Mohamed) is buried there in a mosque.


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## pumpikatze (Sep 19, 2009)

Thuin said:


> Ohldorf cemetery, in Hamburg, claims to be the largest non-military cemetery in the world, with just under 400ha


As far as I know Ohldorf cemetary has about 500.000 buried there.
That´s far from being "the largest cemetery in the world". IMO it is more about the number of buried people than about the size/the area.


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## GENIUS LOCI (Nov 18, 2004)

The biggest cemetery in Milan is 68 ha


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## Thuin (Sep 9, 2010)

pumpikatze said:


> As far as I know Ohldorf cemetary has about 500.000 buried there.
> That´s far from being "the largest cemetery in the world". IMO it is more about the number of buried people than about the size/the area.


I take any claims of "x being the largest in the world" on wikipedia with a largish grain of salt.  I'm prepared to believe Wadi as-Salam is the largest based on the difference between it and the others listed here, but in its case too the "500,000 burials an year" claim sounds like hyperbole - that'd mean a mortality rate of 2% in Iraq, and everybody in the country being buried there. Whereas Iraq's actual death rate seems to be a quarter of that figure.


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## pumpikatze (Sep 19, 2009)

You are right - talking about superlatives is always something to be suspicious about


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## GENIUS LOCI (Nov 18, 2004)

Thuin said:


> I take any claims of "x being the largest in the world" on wikipedia with a largish grain of salt.  I'm prepared to believe Wadi as-Salam is the largest based on the difference between it and the others listed here, but in its case too the "500,000 burials an year" claim sounds like hyperbole - that'd mean a mortality rate of 2% in Iraq, and everybody in the country being buried there. Whereas Iraq's actual death rate seems to be a quarter of that figure.


As I told there are not only Iraqis buried there. It is a holy place for Shias all over the world. And many ones come from abroad (mostly Iran)

Anyway i don't know if that figure is accurate or not


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## Bauhaus (Oct 17, 2004)

*Buenos Aires City - Argentina

Cementerio de la Chacarita: It is not one of the most largest cementery in the world but yes of my country with 95 hectares.*











Cementerio de la Chacarita por lirena, en Flickr


Cementerio de la Chacarita por lirena, en Flickr


CIMG0080 por lirena, en Flickr


Cementerio de la Chacarita por lirena, en Flickr


Humo en Buenos Aires-Cementerio de la Chacarita por Nelly Harracá, en Flickr


buenos-aires-cementerio-de-la-chacarita-carlos-gardel-burial-site-2 por berkeleyhomes-dot-com, en Flickr


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## null (Dec 11, 2002)

Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, China

Size: 120,750 sqm

The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Qin Shi Huang) (Chinese: 秦始皇陵) is located in Lintong District, 30 kilometers east of Xi'an in China's Shaanxi Province. The mausoleum was constructed over 38 years, from 246 to 208 BC. The extant tomb is 76 meters tall. The layout of the cemetery is modeled on the Qin capital Xianyang, divided into inner and outer cities. _The circumference of the inner city is 2.5 km and the outer is 6.3 km._ The tomb is located in the southwest of the inner city and faces east. The part of the tomb housing the coffin and the burial artifacts is the core of the architectural complex of the mausoleum, which has not been excavated.

The Terracotta Warriors, which many have been excavated, is located on the periphery of the mausoleum and are an essential part of the site. They serve as a garrison to the mausoleum.


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## anakngpasig (Jul 29, 2005)

*Manila American Cemetery and Memorial*

it is one of the largest at 62 hectares (153.2 acres) and with more than 17,000 buried. it also draws a lot of visitors wanting to learn about WW2 history.









































































and it got perfectly-manicured lawns


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## Ribarca (Jan 28, 2005)

Hong Kong's largest. Tseung Kwan O Chinese Permanete Cemetery.


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## gabrielbabb (Aug 11, 2006)

Panteón de Dolores. is the largest in Mexico City with about *6,000,000* people buried in 260 acres, it is in Chapultepec Forest inside Mexico City.


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## BringMe (May 7, 2011)

I love cementeries they are calm and peaceful some of them are pieces of art with histor but I have to said that cementeries are just a waste of space today


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## RawLee (Jul 9, 2007)

"Új Köztemető" (literally, "New Cemetery"), 207 ha in Budapest.


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## Fallout (Sep 11, 2002)

*Major cemeteries in Warsaw:*

Bródno Cemetery, 114 ha, 1.2 million buried.











Powązki Cemetery, 43 ha, 1 million buried. This one is oldest and has most monumental graves.











Northern Communal Cemetery, 143 ha, 0.15 million buried. Opened in 1973. This one seems kind of "open" compared to other ones, because its trees havent grown large enough yet.











There's also large Jewish Cemetery in Wola, 33 ha, 0.2 million buried. Still in use.


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## Sarcasticity (May 21, 2005)

Cemeteries are a huge waste of space, but atleast they're usually well landscaped lol


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

bay_area said:


> I dont know but Colma, a small town just south of San Francisco is home to 1-2 thousand living people and is the burial place of 4-5 Million dead people.
> 
> 
> creepy. :runaway:


Actually I think Calvary cemetery in Brooklyn has the most buried in the USA at around 3 million. The 17 colma cemeteries have around 1.5 million.


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

The largest near me in Chicago are the 350 acre Rose Hill and the 120 acre Graceland (across the street from my condo). They're both right near each other in the middle of north side residential areas.


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## Thuin (Sep 9, 2010)

Sarcasticity said:


> Cemeteries are a huge waste of space, but atleast they're usually well landscaped lol


That'd be an accident of boundaries (as in political boundaries not fitting actual human or natural topologies), though, as Colma in this functions as an extension of SF. Similarly, there are suburbs around which, thanks to a large industrial facility which both generates GDP and scares away people, have per capita incomes in the low six digits.


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## Groningen NL (Dec 26, 2010)

Sarcasticity said:


> Cemeteries are a huge waste of space, but atleast they're usually well landscaped lol


I think thats disrespecting. You shouldnt make fun of these subjects (cemeteries, funerals etcetera)


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## SydneyCity (Nov 14, 2010)

Sydney's Rookwood has around 800,000 dead buried there. It is so large it has a bus route running around inside it :lol:


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## anakngpasig (Jul 29, 2005)

Groningen NL said:


> I think thats disrespecting. You shouldnt make fun of these subjects (cemeteries, funerals etcetera)


agree. all throughout history, humans have always respected and paid tributes to the dead. one of the reasons this beauty was built:










in our culture, they were even worshiped as gods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anito


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## bayviews (Mar 3, 2006)

Sarcasticity said:


> Cemeteries are a huge waste of space, but atleast they're usually well landscaped lol


However, in cities like Buffalo that have choosen the path of shrinkage & where the numbers of deaths exceed the births, cemetaries do fill up what space would otherwise simply be reverting to urban praries. 

Forest Lawn, the biggest cemetary is Buffalo doubles as well landscaped park. Then there's several other cemetaries bunched together at the far east end of the city.


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## nareik (Nov 23, 2013)

In England the largest is the Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the 'London Necropolis' in Woking. It covers 500 acres or 202 hectares.


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## Eric Offereins (Jan 1, 2004)

An ancient one but over 1 km square can be found in Hierapolis Turkey (above the Pamukalle terraces)





































Under archeological survey. There is a skeleton underneath the black sheet:


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