Vestre Kirkegård (Western Cemetery), established in 1927, is one of two large municipal cemeteries in Aarhus,

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with Nordre Kirkegård being the other. The cemetery was inaugurated in 1927 when Nordre Kirkegård was filled up. Originally, the cemetery was 5 hectares, but it has been expanded several times, until its present size of 16.9 hectares. Vestre Kirkegård contains two chapels. ''Store Kapel'' (Big Chapel) by Frederik Draiby originates from the opening of the cemetery and contains 252 seats. The other, ''Lille Kapel'' (Little Chapel) designed by Henning Larsen is from 1969 and contains 50 seats. Lille Kapel in addition features a crematorium.

Henry From Henry Petersen From (1 June 1926 – 31 August 1990) was a Danish association football goalkeeper. He played 31 games for the Denmark national football team, and won a silver medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He spent his entire club career at ...

and Christian Frederik Møller is interred in Vestre Kirkegård.

World War II

The second world war left a notable impact on Vestre Kirkegård. There are 17 protected graves belonging to resistance fighters who died in the

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in Northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, th ...

and a memorial wall has been erected by

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality ( da, Aarhus Kommune), known as Århus Municipality ( da, Århus Kommune) until 2011, is a municipality in Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area ...

to commemorate 15 of its citizens that died in German concentration camps and were buried elsewhere. There is a grave site and memorial for 13 victims of a 1944 explosion in Aarhus harbor who could not be identified. Finally there is a memorial for two Soviet prisoners, grave site and memorial for 11 British soldiers, grave site for 299 German soldiers who died in 1945 and a grave site for 619 German refugees that died in 1945.

Notable interments

* Hans Peder Christensen, mayor of Aarhus (1933–1941) *

, footballer (1926–1990) * Olaf Jonas Hansen, writer and teacher (1870–1932) * Orla Hyllested, mayor of Aarhus (1971–1981) *

C. F. Møller Christian Frederik Møller (31 October 1898 – 5 November 1988), generally referred to as C. F. Møller, was a Danish architect, professor and, from 1965 to 1969, the first rector of the Aarhus School of Architecture. His former practice, Arki ...

, architect and teacher (1898–1988) *

Harald Salling-Mortensen Harald Søren Salling-Mortensen (1902–1969) was a Danish architect who mainly worked in an around Aarhus in the first half of the 20th century. He designed several important buildings in the city and his style reflects the development of Danish ...

, architect (1902–1969) *

Tage Skou-Hansen Tage Skou-Hansen (12 February 1925 – 11 November 2015) was a Danish writer, editor and scholar. Overview Born in the town of Fredericia, Tage Skou-Hansen graduated from Marselisborg Gymnasium in Aarhus and became a student of history of lite ...

, writer (1925–2015) * Einar Stecher Christensen, mayor of Aarhus (1942–1945)

References

External links

Official website
* {{Find a Grave cemetery, 2163419, Aarhus West Cemetery, a.k.a. Aarhus Vestre Kirkegaard Cemeteries in Denmark Parks in Aarhus 1927 establishments in Denmark