The Necropolis in Glasgow,
Scotland, has been described as a ‘unique representation of Victorian Glasgow,
built when this city was the second city of the Empire. It reflects the feeling
of confidence and wealth and security of that time.’
It is a memorial to the merchant
patriarchs of the city and contains the remains of almost every eminent
Glaswegian of its day. Monuments designed by leading Glaswegian architects
including Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, Bryce, Hamilton and Mackintosh adorn it.
Their designs are executed by expert masons and sculptors who contributed
ornate and sculptural detail of the finest quality.
The early 1800’s saw Glasgow grow
as a major industrial city. With it came a new class of merchants and
entrepreneurs who had made vast fortunes in tobacco, spices, coffee and cotton.
By 1831 Glasgow’s population had trebled from 70.000 to more than 200.000.
Flooded by immigrants, most notably Irish and Highlanders, the existing urban
structure was inadequate and could not cope with such an influx.
The working classes suffered
considerable conditions of deprivation, exacerbated by inadequate housing, dire
poverty, poor sanitation and contaminated water supplies. This sudden dramatic
increase in Glasgow’s population directly affected cemeteries since the poverty
and squalor resulted in fierce epidemics of cholera and typhus. In the 1830’s
over 5.000 people were dying each year and were being buried in unhygienic
churchyards. Previous burials in the 1800’s outside of a churchyard had been
reserved for the unbaptised and lunatics. Growing concerns with hygiene and
sanitation led to the opinion that this policy of burial in urban churchyards
had now to be avoided.
The Necropolis remains one of the
most significant cemeteries in Europe, exceptional in its townscape, its
symbolic relationship to Glasgow Cathedral and the medieval heart of the city.
In common with other major Victorian cemeteries, it was designed as a botanic
and sculpture garden to improve the morals and tastes of Glaswegians and act as
an historical record of past greatness.
No comments:
Post a Comment