So on my 'to do' list in London was visit Karl Marx. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery, however there is the 'west' side and the 'east' side. Marx is buried on the 'east' side (should've known! ;) haaha!
Anyway, from earlier posts you know about my 'enjoyment' of graveyards and this was no exception. In fact, I would say that this is what I always expected of a European graveyard! Old, stone crosses and monuments everywhere...and and and...
This is a grave marker for the family that made the 'Big Ben' bell as well as the Liberty Bell (yeah, good work there! ;)
This guy was a general that had actual 'shells' and actual cannons used as 'decoration'.
This is Alexander Litvinenko's grave. Wikipedia says, "In November 1998, Litvinenko publicly accused his superiors of ordering the assassination of Russian tycoon and oligarch, Boris Berezovsky. Litvinenko was arrested the following March on charges of exceeding his authority at work. He was acquitted in November 1999 but re-arrested before the charges were again dismissed in 2000. A third criminal case began but he fled the country to the United Kingdom with his wife, where he was granted political asylum.
During his time in London Litvinenko authored two books, "Blowing up Russia: Terror from within" and "Lubyanka Criminal Group," where he accused Russian secret services of staging Russian apartment bombings and other terrorism acts to bring Vladimir Putin to power. He also accused Vladimir Putin of ordering the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
And I guess that is what you get when you try to 'stand up' in Russia....
Our tour guide pointed out that when Highgate was built in the mid 1800's, the cemetery had a requirement to allow for 'public funerals', i.e. people who couldn't afford a burial. So guess where they buried the people who couldn't pay?! IN THE WALKWAYS!! ....So yes, we walked on the 'graves' (he said up to 20 at a time) of poor people! Amazing how even in death, money plays a big roll....
Highgate cemetery was one of 7(?) newly built, public cemeteries in London back in the mid 1800's. Each had a 'theme' in order to attract business (weird, eh?). Highgate's theme was 'Ancient Egypt' ;) So this is 'Egyptian Avenue'.
And the family tombs on Egyptian Avenue. The guy said that during the 1960's and 70's the cemetery was just left to rot, so there was a lot of vandalism, break-ins and people doing 'black magic', in his words.
He also pointed out that this 'Egyptian Avenue' was rented out to movie production groups so they could film there - our tour guide was not amused by that.
This apparenlty is a cedar tree from a seed/part from Lebanon. Highgate was an estate earlier, but the mansion had burned down. This was the ONLY tree in Highgate Cemetery-West as it was built, everything else our tour guide pointed out was brought in by the wind, etc.
The cedar tree is surrounded by 'The Circle of Lebanon', other tombs, etc.
This Tom Sayers' grave. He was a 'pugilist' and died in 1865. I put this here because our tour guide said that his funeral was the most-attended in Highgate ever, with a reported 400,000 people seeing his grave (our tour guide pointed out that papers back then lied in order to sell copies - hmm...not much has changed, eh? :(
This is his dog, Lion. BIG DOG!
I thought this pic was just cool with the tree and and and...
These are the graves of Charles Dickens's wife and 3 of their 5 children!
The graveyard was built up around a piece of private property - this property has been lately developed so...hmm... (just a weird contrast from old, falling down ruins to 'hello, I'm ugly modern!')
So our tour guide let us know that this was probably one of the most famous British men to be buried in Highgate-West. I said 'Sorry, but I'm the ignorant American - who is/was Michael Farraday?' The tour guide let out an 'oh' or astonishment and then proceeded to explain that he invented the 'Dynamo' and pretty much discovered how to 'harvest' electricity.
(Wikipedia says: Michael Faraday, FRS ( 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English chemist and physicist (or natural philosopher, in the terminology of the time) who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.
Faraday studied the magnetic field around a conductorcarrying a DC electric current, and established the basis for the magnetic field concept in physics. He discovered electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, and laws of electrolysis. He established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena. His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became viable for use in technology.)
Faraday studied the magnetic field around a conductorcarrying a DC electric current, and established the basis for the magnetic field concept in physics. He discovered electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, and laws of electrolysis. He established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena. His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became viable for use in technology.)
This was a bit 'freaky' looking - that was with a flash...the angel to me looks like it's been 'painted' onto the photo...
And that was the 'West' side...very interesting, very enjoyable and a beautiful day for it as well!
Now, shall we? We wouldn't want to keep Karly-baby (Marx) waiting now, would we? ;)
