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Cemetery

Children climb on a construction near a gravestone in the playground of the Sophienkirche day-care center in Berlin, Germany. The day-care is located on the grounds of the Sophienkirche church, and it’s playground occupies a space that was once the parish

Berlin’s graveyards are being converted for use by the living

Culture

Space is at a premium in most big cities — but even then space is usually reserved for the dead. In Berlin, though, many old cemeteries are being converted as public spaces.

Children climb on a construction near a gravestone in the playground of the Sophienkirche day-care center in Berlin, Germany. The day-care is located on the grounds of the Sophienkirche church, and it’s playground occupies a space that was once the parish

Berlin’s graveyards are being converted for use by the living

Culture
A pupil at the Sophienkirche day-care climbs atop a gravestone in the centers playground. The children are encouraged to explore the space, and not discouraged from climbing on some of the stones.

In Germany, some cemeteries are being turned into parks, playgrounds and gardens

Culture
The bodies of thousands of Londoners, including plague victims, lie in the Bedlam Burial Ground.

Uncovering the plague pit beneath London’s streets

Health

In Chile, a cemetery that unites the living and the dead

Global Politics

VIDEO: Shock, dismay, outrage expressed over desecration of World War II-era graves in Libya

Politicians and veterans groups in Australia, the U.K. and Canada, as well as other area, are outraged over the intentional vandalism of World War II-era graves in Benghazi, Libya.

Japan’s high-tech graveyard in the sky

Traditional burial plots in Tokyo cost tens of thousands of dollars, so some Japanese are turning to a new form of cemetery.

Question of Burying Boston Marathon Suspect Elicits Passionate Responses

Cemeteries around Massachusetts have said Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev can’t be buried here. And many Americans say he should be sent home.

The World

Green Burials

Dying is big business in the United States. Some twenty billion dollars are spent annually on funerals and cemeteries. The past few years have seen an evolution in the funeral industry as individuals try to find creative ways to memorialize their loved ones. As Mitzi Rapkin reports from South Carolina, one man is offering burial […]

The World

Desecration at a Traditionally Black Cemetery

Arts, Culture & Media

In a gruesome story, police outside Chicago are investigating a scheme by cemetery operators to dig up graves, dump the bodies, and re-sell the burial plots. For more details, we go to Lolly Bowean, a reporter with the Chicago Tribune.