Last Landscapes: The Architecture of the Cemetery in the West

(Paperback)

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Description

"Last Landscapes" explores the cult and celebration of memory and loss in the landscapes of the cemetery. It traces the history and design of cemeteries throughout Europe and the USA, ranging from the picturesque tradition of the village churchyard; the tightly packed "cities of the dead", such as the Jewish Cemetery in Prague or Pere Lachaise in Paris; the war cemeteries of Northern France to the enchanted modernism of the Stockholm Woodland Cemetery. It discusses cemetery design in North America, such as the cemeteries for immigrant communities and those at Mount Auburn, Massachusetts, and Forest Lawns in Glendale, California. Cemeteries have become key settings for the architectural expression of mourning, reflecting national, religious, romantic and positivist attitudes towards death. These landscapes and their monuments also reveal the artistic and cultural allegiances and interests of their time. Worpole consequently examines the aesthetic principles of contemporary landscape architecture and critically assesses the debt this owes to land art practitioners such as Christo, Robert Smithson, Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy. This evocative book also contemplates other forms of memorialization within modern societies, whether in the landscaping and sculptural traditions of Ian Hamilton Finlay or Rachel Whiteread, through to the extraordinary Duisberg Park, set in the former giant steelworks in the Ruhr Valley, now transformed into one of the most haunting and melancholy urban landscapes of our time.

Reviews

One of the most thought-provoking books of the year. * The Independent *
A richly humane and engrossing book . . . a work that is warm, compassionate, intelligent and thought-provoking. * Building Design *
A remarkably beautiful book . . . As a long-time professor of worship, I spent many years talking with seminarians and pastors about theological and liturgical aspects of rites related to death. Last Landscapes shows that such conversations would be enriched if they were to address topics that Worpole discusses with such sensitivity and insight. * Anglican Theological Review *
Reading this book is a pleasure. The book is beautifully illustrated with photography by Larraine Worpole . . . It spends time with architectural and landscape history, makes tracks through sociology and economics, ponders theological and philosophical positions, and lingers before some remarkable aesthetic achievements. * The Twentieth Century Society Journal *

Author Bio

Ken Worpole has written a number of pamphlets and books on urban and cultural policy. His books include Towns for People (1993), Libraries in a World of Cultural Change (1995), People, Parks and Cities (1996), Cemetery in the City (1997), Richer Futures: Fashioning a New Politics (1998),Here Comes the Sun: Architecture and Public Space in Twentieth Century European Culture (Reaktion, 2001) and Last Landscapes: The Architecture of the Cemetary in the West (Reaktion, 2003). He is married to Larraine Worpole, photographer.