Places

Tom Koch, 7.4.2026

Kolkata’s hidden oasis

Park Street Cemetery

Opened in 1767, South Park Street Cemetery was among the earliest non-ecclesiastical cemeteries in the world and, in the nineteenth century, likely the largest Christian burial ground outside Europe and the Americas.

Today the site is enclosed by a brick wall that shelters an eclectic assemblage of graves, mausolea, and dense tropical vegetation, set apart from the surrounding bustle of Kolkata.

The design of the nearly 1,900 tombs reflects a wide range of stylistic influences, from European Gothic and classical antiquity to Indo-Saracenic forms, which here appear to converge within a dense assemblage of obelisks, cairns, urns, and sarcophagi.

Particularly notable are the signatures of the builders—recorded as sculptors—often placed in the lower right corner, recalling the practice of traditional sign painters in Europe.

India Kolkata Burial Grounds

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Kolkata’s hidden oasis

Park Street Cemetery

The design of the nearly 1,900 tombs reflects a wide range of stylistic influences, from European Gothic and classical antiquity to Indo-Saracenic forms, which here appear to converge within a dense assemblage of obelisks, cairns, urns, and sarcophagi.

Particularly notable are the signatures of the builders—recorded as sculptors—often placed in the lower right corner, recalling the practice of traditional sign painters in Europe.

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