The old cemetery of Holzkirchen is to get a new face.
The redesign is intended to give it the character of a park and arm it for the changing demands of burial culture.
Wooden churches
- Greener, friendlier, more modern and more intimate: This is how the old cemetery in Holzkirchen should be. In its most recent meeting, the members of the local and transport planning committee discussed the redesign of the market town's old cemetery. For the area at Oskar-von-Miller-Platz there is now a concept from the Munich company TRR Landscape Architects, which shows which elements should be redesigned and what could become of the Gottesacker in the coming years. Landscape architect Wolfgang Ritz presented the ideas. He described his vision as “a kind of final resting place with park character” or “park with burial places”. In any case, the redesign should bring more quality of stay. Due to the large gravel areas, the cemetery has a very barren atmosphere.
Change to “final resting place with park character”?
Another point why, according to Ritz, the tomb is crying out for modernization: the previously dominant form of burial is less and less in demand.
“People tend to grave shapes that are easier to maintain,” says Ritz.
Urn graves are very popular.
The cemetery is to be aligned according to this development.
To this end, more and more graves are being abandoned.
With a view to the coming years, this creates more space on the site.
"You have to find a clear structure for future awards," said Mayor Christoph Schmid (CSU).
More quality of stay and signs for grave allocation required
Ritz has already considered this. In his design he divides the cemetery into four areas. Area A represents the entrance area. Behind it is area B. The idea here would be not to allocate any new graves in the future. "Since there will be fewer graves anyway, space could be created here for grassy areas or other plantings," explained Ritz. There are also plans to enrich the cemetery with more benches, more trees and hedges. "Hedges around the garbage cans would charmingly play around this ugly necessity," said Ritz. It is also important to make grave-related mourning easier. "This is hardly possible for people who cannot stand for long because of the limited seating."
Care should also be taken not to leave some areas free for new earth graves, so that there is space for alternative forms of burial. “Tree burials, for example, are very popular,” explains Ritz. In addition, there is a lack of protected areas anyway. “Many graves are very open and you can see from the houses around them. That makes intimate mourning impossible, ”says Ritz. At these points you can readjust with hedges. Other planting elements could be Chinese shrubs that can be planted in open spaces. Here Ulrike Küster (Greens) asked: “Is there a domestic alternative that would have a habitat for our insects?” Ritz replied that the Chinese shrub was only one of many possibilities. "He is quite popular,because it gives a beautiful picture over every season and has a calm charisma. ”Of course, you can mix it with native plants in the overall concept or leave it out.
But you don't have to do everything at once.
"It's about gradual development," said Ritz.
Schmid also pleaded: "If you do everything at once, you have to do everything all over again at once." He tends towards cautious development.
High praise for cemetery gardeners
If the building yard were to implement the measures, the redesign with 50 topsoil plantings including maintenance, five banks, hedges at the garbage dumps and ten urn soil systems would cost an estimated 40,000 euros.
If the market commissions a third-party company for this, Ritz expects around 58,000 euros.
The concept convinced everyone.
The unanimous decision was made to allocate the graves according to the design concept.
There was special praise from all sides for the cemetery gardener.
"I've seen completely different examples," said Ritz in appreciation of the work.
