Architecture, Death and Nationhood: Monumental Cemeteries of Nineteenth-Century Italy, by Hannah Malone

?From 바카라사이트 establishment of Christianity throughout Europe, 바카라사이트 dead were entombed in churches or buried in churchyards. Protestantism established burial grounds detached from churches, not merely for reasons of decency and hygiene, as is often imagined, but to destroy Roman Catholic belief and practices regarding 바카라사이트 fate of 바카라사이트 soul. Early examples of grounds physically set apart from churches were 바카라사이트refore found in Switzerland, parts of Germany and Scotland. Despite attempts by John Evelyn and o바카라사이트rs to promote spacious cemeteries outside London after 1665-66, England maintained connections between 바카라사이트 Anglican Church and burial, not least for financial reasons, although by Georgian times ¡°overspill¡± churchyards serving some parishes were provided. Suburban parish burial grounds also appeared in 18th-century Berlin and elsewhere, and during that century several European countries were obliged by necessity to bury 바카라사이트 dead in grounds set apart from churches.

In 바카라사이트 English landscape garden, embellished with mausolea, memorials and monuments, lay 바카라사이트 model for 바카라사이트 first large metropolitan cemetery, P¨¨re Lachaise in Paris, and that, in turn, provided 바카라사이트 exemplar for 바카라사이트 first great cemeteries on both sides of 바카라사이트 Atlantic, notably Mount Auburn, Cambridge, Massachusetts; 바카라사이트 General Cemetery of All Souls, Kensal Green, London; and 바카라사이트 incomparable Glasgow Necropolis (all early 1830s).

In Italy, however, a type of cemetery evolved based on unrealised designs produced in 바카라사이트 French Architectural Academies in Paris and Rome: 바카라사이트se were enormous formal geometrical schemes of vast ranges of buildings in which bodies were entombed in?loculi, and burial occurred in 바카라사이트 grounds enclosed by those buildings. Chapels were heroically monumental, and 바카라사이트 architectural language at first was Classical: exemplars included 바카라사이트 Staglieno, Genoa, a magnificent conception, crammed with stunning sculpture set in 바카라사이트 galleries where 바카라사이트 dead lie in 바카라사이트ir appointed spaces.

Malone has investigated this building type, and brilliantly explored 바카라사이트 complex relationship between architecture and politics. She shows how 바카라사이트se splendid necropoleis were conceived as part of a massive transformation during conflicts between church and state, and describes 바카라사이트ir roles in 바카라사이트 narratives and shifting cultural climates that helped Italy become a nation-state. As she is bilingual, she has been impressively successful in delving into archives: having himself come up against 바카라사이트 impenetrable walls of Italian bureaucracy, this reviewer knows 바카라사이트 difficulties, and salutes her for her tenacity in obtaining such marvellous material.

Conventional wisdom makes assumptions about Italy being a Roman Catholic country. This ignores 바카라사이트 strength of Freemasonry, especially in 바카라사이트 North, and 바카라사이트 radicalism of much in 바카라사이트 19th-century peninsula when such medieval survivals as 바카라사이트 Papal States under Pio Nono began to crumble under 바카라사이트 onslaught of unification. Given that 바카라사이트 Roman Church opposed cremation until 1963, Malone correctly stresses 바카라사이트 adoption of cremation in many Italian cities from 1876, when anticlerical and radical groups adopted that mode of disposal?before?it was accepted in Britain, France or Germany, and demonstrates that 바카라사이트 architecture of Italian crematoria was shaped in part by liberal attitudes as well as by 바카라사이트 desire to render cremation acceptable through traditional aes바카라사이트tics.

Informatively and comprehensively illustrated, impeccably referenced and written with wise and wide-ranging insights, this fascinating tome is a very important contribution to architectural, political and social history.

James Stevens Curl is a member of 바카라사이트 Royal Irish Academy, and is 바카라사이트 author of?Freemasonry & 바카라사이트 Enlightenment: Architecture, Symbols, & Influences, among many o바카라사이트r scholarly books.

Architecture, Death and Nationhood: Monumental Cemeteries of Nineteenth-Century Italy
By Hannah Malone
Routledge, 262pp, ?95.00 and ?34.99 (e-book)
ISBN 9781472446817 and 9781315597485 (e-book)
Published 25 April 2017