The Schoonselhof cemetery is situated near Antwerp in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium.
About the cemetery
In 1911 the city of Antwerp bought the 84 hectare big estate with a castle, to use it as a park cemetery, following the example of Ohlsdorf Cemetery in Hamburg. To drain the swampy grounds, they bordered the various parks with dug out ditches. On August 8th, 1914, military parks of honour were created. The first person to be buried at the Schoonselhof Cemetery was a German soldier (in August 29th, 1914). Since September 1st, 1921, the Schoonselhof Cemetery is a public cemetery. Here we find a lot of monuments that were transferred in 1938 from the old Kiel cemetery, after its closure in 1936.
Important personalities
A small, almost unnoticeable grave is that of Maria S’ Heeren. In August 15th, 1902, during the tour of the procession of light, the last carriage of splendour, belonging to the Leopold company, and on which the girl was tied up, suddenly caught fire. Maria, who portrayed the snow queen, was burned alive. She became the symbol of innocence and was buried as a martyr by thousands of Antwerp citizens.
In the middle of the concrete road stands the angel monument created by the sculptor Arthur Pierre. It is the last resting place of Peter Benoit. He taught his people how to sing and is the founder of the Flemish music school, in 1867.
We can visit the last resting place of other composers (such as Jan Blockx and Armand Preud’homme), painters (such as Hendrik De Braekeleer, Karel Verlat and Theodoor Verstraete), sculptors (Such as Vic Gentils and Albert Szukalski) and writers (such as Gerard Walschap, Paul Van Ostaijen, Willem Elsschot, Marnix Gijsen, Hubert Lampo, Herman De Coninck and Hendrik Conscience, writer of “De Leeuw van Vlaanderen” (The lion of Flanders)). A colossal lion guards his grave.
In the Schoonselhof cemetery are a lot of monuments for freemasons with a monumental tomb for Isidore Eyerman. The largest monumental memorial of the entire Schoonselhof is the statue of mayor Leopold De Wael. Plastic arts artist and musician Ferre Grignard also lie here. He had a world hit in 1966 with the song “Ring, ring, I’ve got to sing”.
The castle and special burial grounds
There is a Israelian burial place at the Schoonselhof Cemetery which is dominated by the Tolkowskymausoleum in neo-moor architecture, erected in 1913. On our way to the military burial grounds we cannot ignore the castle, built in classical French style. There is also the British soldiers cemetery with a quiet chapel. Further on we find the graves of the victims of the world wars of 1940-1945 and 1914-1918. Here rest only the soldiers of the allied armies. The German soldiers were transferred to Vladslo (1914-1918) and to Lommel (1940-1945).
*Photo source: www.en.wikipedia.org
Address
Schoonselhof CemeteryKrijgsbaan: Sint Bernardsesteenweg
2660 Antwerp
Belgium
Contacts
Tel. +32 3 740 36Email: centrale.schoonselhof@stad.antwerpen.be
Website: www.schoonselhof.be
Tourist information
Phone: +32 3 232 01 03Address: Grote Markt, Antwerp
Email: toerisme@antwerpen.be
Website: www.antwerpen.be