Woodland Crematorium
Asplund, Erik Gunnar; Lewerentz, Sigurd
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Alternative Titles
Skogskyrkogården
Woodland Cemetery
Date
1935-1940Description
Chapel doors decorated with bronze reliefs by Bror Hjort, detail; Cemetery architecture played a major part in Asplund’s work. His major work after the Stockholm Exhibition of 1930 was the crematorium of the Woodland Cemetery (1935-1940). [He had designed the surrounding cemetery starting in 1917 after winning the design competion of 1915 with Sigurd Lewerentz. The layout of the cemetery is inspired by Greek and Roman Sacred Ways.] The crematorium consists of a terrace of semi-underground technical facilities and, on the ground-level, the large chapel of the Holy Cross and two smaller chapels, of Faith and of Hope. A grand detached portico guards the entrance to the chapel of the Holy Cross. The façades of the chapels are reminiscent of the exhibition buildings’ slabs but have marble cladding. 'The monumental quality', Asplund writes, 'was deliberately reserved for the 'Biblical' landscape'. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 5/4/2011)
Type of Work
cemetery; crematorium; chapel (room or structure)Subject
architecture, death or burial, funerary art, Cemeteries, cremation, sacred ways, mortuary temples, Twentieth century, Constructivist, Modernist
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only