Funeral Museums in Europe

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  Funeral Museum Tot Zover, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

  ‘How we deal with death says a lot about who we are, our origins and the times we live in.’ The museum ‘Tot Zover’ at the cemetery ‘De Nieuwe Ooster’ in Amsterdam tells the story of how we deal with death in the past and the present on the basis of four themes: Rituals, The Body, Mourning and Remembrance, Memento Mori. In the ‘Mourning and Remembrance’ section, the museum displays, among other things, Chinese mourning objects, a mourning bible, ash pendants and mourning jewellery. This part of the collection also includes the parlAmore Mourning Button. Tot Zover

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  Funeral Museum, Kassel, Germany

  The German state of Hesse is home to the only European funeral museum that is not located in a cemetery. The focal point of the museum, which opened in 1992, is the permanent exhibition on the main themes of ‘Death, Dying and Burial’ and ‘Cemetery and Grave’. Since 2014, the museum – against the backdrop of the increasing number of migrants being buried in Germany – has been paying special attention to the new theme ‘Religions and their funeral rites. Although death is the focus of the museum, visitors can also encounter life and love. Laughter is not forbidden in our museum.’ Museum für Sepulkralkultur

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  Vienna Funeral Museum, Austria

  ‘Death is inevitable – therefore we celebrate it.” That is the motto of the Vienna Funeral Museum, located at the Central Cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries in the world. Besides carriages, coffins and over 250 other objects, the museum offers unique film footage of historical events, such as the state funeral of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1916. In a special audio centre, visitors can listen to popular funeral music such as Schubert’s “Ave Maria” and an instrumental version of “Time to say goodbye”Bestattungsmuseum

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  The Hearses Collection, Barcelona, Spain

  The Montjuic cemetery contains a unique collection of funeral carriages. They have served the Catalan capital for more than 90 years since 1836. Besides carriages, the museum also has three historic funeral cars, a Hispano Suïssa, a Studebaker and a Buick Riviera. A special insight into nineteenth-century funeral customs is provided by a group of simple white carriages, specially intended for the burial of children and unmarried women. These were the only dead people who were pure enough in spirit to qualify for a white carriage. La Colección de Carrozas Fúnebres

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  Museum of Funeral Culture Hörnli, Basel, Switzerland

  The so-called “Friedhof Hörnli Collection”, opened in 1994, is located in the country’s largest cemetery. Visitors can learn about the development of funeral culture in Switzerland in general and in Basel and its surroundings in particular. Unique to the museum is the collection of surgical implants of deceased persons, which have been cremated at Hörnli since the end of the 19th century. The museum also has 150 urns, the oldest dating from 1889. In a separate section, a large assortment of historical mourning jewellery is displayed.  Sammlung Friedhof Hörnli