One of the reasons I like visiting cemeteries and other memorials is that I learn some history that passed me by, either during my own lifetime (or often before it). I was still in high school when the Soviet Union broke up, but was really only aware of the larger Continue reading “Site 196: Baku’s Martyrs’ Alley”
Almaty is hardly known as a tourist destination, and that’s how I like it. Even though it lies at the far eastern edge of Central Asia, it has a very European feel to it, as evidenced by its grand leafy boulevards, impressive buildings, and the many monuments Continue reading “Site 194: Almaty’s Memorials”
I’ll be travelling a lot this year, mostly work-related, but as I began sorting out which places I wanted to go to, I realized that there will be quite a shift on this blog as I venture further away from cemeteries, and more towards what are commonly known as “dark” Continue reading “2019: Going Dark”
Having just visited my 150th cemetery/memorial site in just over 3 years, I thought it might be interesting to look at the overall numbers of where I’ve been and what I’ve seen. Just sorting through the numbers have given me a few surprises – I didn’t realise Continue reading “Cemetery Roundup 2015-2018”
I read a lot of articles and blog posts about cemeteries, a lot of “top 10” and “top 20” (and numbers in between) lists that tend to feature mostly the same cemeteries again and again, and wrote about why I don’t like those types of lists here. One of my complaints for those Continue reading “The Cemetery Bucket List: Monumental Cemeteries”
On February 5, 1597, 26 Christians (20 Japanese, 6 foreign priests) were crucified and lanced to death on 26 crosses put up on Nishizaka Hill. Their deaths were meant to serve as a warning to burgeoning Christian population of Nagasaki. The early Continue reading “Site 73: Nagasaki’s 26 Martyrs Monument”
stone and dust 