Siselinna Cemetery, Tallinn, Estonia

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(2) Graves of an Russian Orthodox archbishop named Pavel and a bishop named Issidor.

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(7) Grave of Olga (1903-1916), Oskar (1908-1916) and Juhannes Johanson (1918-1926). Such short lives...

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(9) Family grave of Taru, Pontak and Luisk.

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(11) Promani and Ilja family grave.

(12) Grave of the musician Rolf Uusväli (1930-2005). Not easy to find information about him, though, but the monument certainly gives you the idea that he played the organ. If anyone has more details, please tell!

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(14) Hans Mittenpaul (1835-1905).

(15) Grave of Johannes Heinrich Bunabart (1880-1912) and Marti Bunabart (b. 1845, death year missing - it is not even registered at the cemetery's official website).

(16) Grave of Daniel Reeps (1868-1960) and Helene-Wilhelmine Reeps, née Pukk (1888-1970).

(17) Eduard Ferdinand Beckmann (1871-1908).

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(19) Another Johanson grave - Alide (1888-1936) and Julius (1880-1942).

(20) Grave of Peeter (1833-1910) and Leena Kulberg (1835-1908).

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(27) Map of to of the three cemeteries. In the following a list of graves of prominent people.

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Before my trip to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, in November 2011, I had prepared myself among others by checking out the official website of Tallinn Tourism, which to my great surprise contained a subpage surveying the cemeteries in the capital. I decided that if I got some additional time, I would try to visit one of them. 

Metsakalmistu (the Forest Cemetery) or Pärnamäe semed to be most interesting - the former included among others the graves of the first Estonian president, Konstantin Päts, and the writer Anton-Hansen Tammsaare (didn't I pass his house on my way to Kadriorg Park?) - but the said cemeteries were both situated several kilometres from the old city of Tallinn. As I preferred to walk, I decided for the forest cemetery of Siselinna. 

Siselinna, measured to about 18 hectares, is actually not one cemetery, but three - the former Russian Orthodox Cemetery established in 1775 and known as Aleksander Nevski Cemetery, the Estonian Vana-Kaarli Cemetery opened in 1864 and the Military Cemetery (the Defence Forces Cemetery). I didn't visit the latter, though. I can't say that Siselinna is situated in the nicest part of the city, I would certainly not have visited the place at night (but the cemetery would have been closed anyway!), but it was a nice walk from the old city. The cemetery - or cemeteries - were interesting enough, even though I didn't know any names of the people buried there. As a forest cemetery it was rather dark at times, and I was not satisfied with the quality of all the photos I took. The enscribed names were rather representative of Estonian history, as one could find Swedish, German, Estonian and Russian family names. 

Go to the cemetery's official website to read more and to search for details about the graves. 

 

This article is the third and last from my November 2011 visit. I hope to get back to Tallinn and Estonia again in the not too distant future!