South Park Street Cemetery
Also known as Park Street Cemetery
Calcutta, West Bengal, India
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Numerous grave tablets from the defunct North Park Street Cemetery are mounted in the eastern wall of this cemetery.
In all, 1624 graves are numbered and registered in this cemetery, some of them commemorating more than one person.
The Park Street Cemetery was one of the earliest non-church cemeteries in the world, and probably the largest Christian cemetery outside Europe and America in the 19th century. Opened in 1767 on what was previously a marshy area, the cemetery was in use until about 1830 and is now a heritage site, protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The cemetery was opened to relieve the pressure on the old burial ground in the heart of the city. The road leading to the cemetery came to be known as the Burial Ground Road but was subsequently renamed Park Street after the park around Vansittart's garden house. By the year 1785 the burial ground had been extended on the northern side of Park Street and by 1840 a vast new cemetery was opened to the east of the Lower Circular Road. The Europeans started to disuse it in the year 1790. It has been confirmed by a marble plaque at the gate which reads "South Park Street, Opened:1767, Closed:1790".
The tombs are an admixture of the Gothic with a rich flavour of the Indo-Saracenic style. Of the latter, mention may be made of a unique and composite brick structure built in the ‘panchyatana' manner, with a central dome flanked by miniature replicas of Orissan ‘rekha deul' on four sides. Coupled with this peculiarity, the black basalt carvings on the frontal façade indicate a distinct respect for the Hindu faith.
Privately owned with 2000 graves or tombs.
Numerous grave tablets from the defunct North Park Street Cemetery are mounted in the eastern wall of this cemetery.
In all, 1624 graves are numbered and registered in this cemetery, some of them commemorating more than one person.
The Park Street Cemetery was one of the earliest non-church cemeteries in the world, and probably the largest Christian cemetery outside Europe and America in the 19th century. Opened in 1767 on what was previously a marshy area, the cemetery was in use until about 1830 and is now a heritage site, protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The cemetery was opened to relieve the pressure on the old burial ground in the heart of the city. The road leading to the cemetery came to be known as the Burial Ground Road but was subsequently renamed Park Street after the park around Vansittart's garden house. By the year 1785 the burial ground had been extended on the northern side of Park Street and by 1840 a vast new cemetery was opened to the east of the Lower Circular Road. The Europeans started to disuse it in the year 1790. It has been confirmed by a marble plaque at the gate which reads "South Park Street, Opened:1767, Closed:1790".
The tombs are an admixture of the Gothic with a rich flavour of the Indo-Saracenic style. Of the latter, mention may be made of a unique and composite brick structure built in the ‘panchyatana' manner, with a central dome flanked by miniature replicas of Orissan ‘rekha deul' on four sides. Coupled with this peculiarity, the black basalt carvings on the frontal façade indicate a distinct respect for the Hindu faith.
Privately owned with 2000 graves or tombs.
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Calcutta, West Bengal, India
- Total memorials21
- Percent photographed10%
- Percent with GPS0%
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- Total memorials2k+
- Percent photographed97%
- Percent with GPS3%
Calcutta, West Bengal, India
- Total memorials339
- Percent photographed31%
- Percent with GPS6%
Calcutta, West Bengal, India
- Total memorials1
- Percent photographed100%
- Percent with GPS0%
- Added: 19 Feb 2010
- Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2342574
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