Sant’Anna Monumental Cemetery – Trieste

“… there is no doubt that cemeteries, no less than museums and the most remarkable buildings, are an index of the respect due to art and of that kindness which is manifested in the decorous worship of the dead.
They should form as a collection of eminent works site to arouse by their expressive beauty senses of deep piety…”

Arduino Berlam and Giacomo Zammattio
.

Two hundred years after the founding of the Catholic Cemetery of Sant'Anna, inaugurated on 1 August 1825, the idea of celebrating this important anniversary with a book, a guide, a map and a responsive website was an interesting challenge, which saw the participation of the Municipality of Trieste, with its archives and museums, cemetery management AcegasApsAmga and the Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape authority of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

The project was set up with the aim of offering visitors to this “open-air museum”, guardian of two centuries of memory and reminiscences, a number of themed itineraries to discover the tombs of famous figures or families built between the 19th and 20th centuries along the avenues of the cemetery.

Research, through the study of monuments, documents and archive drawings, has led to the creation of eight artistic and cultural itineraries, each consisting of five tombs chosen from among the most important, covering themes related to history, architecture, literature, art history, collecting, music, theatre and science.

In addition to these tombs, there is a selection of ten tombe mirabili, monumental tombs worthy of admiration for their age, the importance of the burial or the magnificence of the sculptural composition.