Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Cemetery (french: Cimetière de Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, nl, Begraafplaats van Sint-Jans-Molenbeek) is a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

belonging to

Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (French, ) or (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated b ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium, where the municipality's inhabitants have the right to be buried. It is located at 539, /, in the west of the municipality. The ensemble extends over . The cemetery was inaugurated on 16 August 1864 to replace the old parish cemetery around the Church of St. John the Baptist, which had become too small, and whose last remains were cleared in 1932. Today, it concentrates a considerable protected heritage, including funeral galleries and a

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "''colu ...

initially imagined for Laeken Cemetery and built in 1880, as well as several chapels.

Main sights

The cemetery houses fine examples of 19th-century

funerary art Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and comm ...

. Examples include: * the burial galleries and

from 1880, spurred on by Émile Bockstael, after his earlier initiative at Laeken Cemetery * the Art Nouveau funerary monument of the family des Cressonnières by

Victor Horta Victor Pierre Horta (; Victor, Baron Horta after 1932; 6 January 1861 – 8 September 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. His Hôtel Tassel in Brussels, built in 1892–93, is often ...

(1894) * the tomb of the Beelaert family with a

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

by Amédée Hamoir * the funerary monument of the Jean De Maerschalck family by Ernest Salu File:Molenbeek Cemetery (1).jpg, General view File:Molenbeek Cemetery (4).jpg, Gravestones File:Molenbeek Cemetery (3).jpg, Columbarium File:Molenbeek Cemetery (5).jpg, Detail of the columbarium

Notable interments

Personalities buried there include: * Jan Frantz De Mol, composer * Julien Hanssens (1842–1914), mayor from 1912 to 1914''Un deuil à Molenbeek'', ''Le Quotidien'', 20 October 1914 * Henri Hollevoet (1833–1911), mayor from 1879 to 1911 * Ernest Kindermans (1875–1932), founder of the Kaaitheater * Eugène Laermans (1864–1940), painter and engraver * Edmond Machtens (1902–1978), mayor from 1939 to 1978 * Louise Charlotte Massart (1880–1906), dramaturge * Louis Mettewie (1855–1942), mayor from 1919 to 1938 * Henry Meuwis (1870–1935), painter * Sander Pierron (1872–1945), writer and art critic * Jean-Baptiste Piron (1896–1974), military officer, best known for his role in the Free Belgian forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

* Édouard Van Haelen (1895–1936), swimmer and 1920 Summer Olympics medalist

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{cite book, last=Vandervelde, first=Cecilia, title=Les champs de repos de la Région bruxelloise : Étude de l'architecture et de la sculpture funéraires, des symboles et des épitaphes. Inventaires, location=Brussels, language=fr, publisher=Self-published, year=1997 Cemeteries in Belgium Buildings and structures in Brussels Geography of Brussels Culture in Brussels Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Protected heritage sites in Brussels

Main sights

Notable interments

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography