Memento Mori

Mayerling Lodge

Site of the 1889 murder-suicide of crown prince Rudolf and his lover Mary Vetsera

For reasons that have never been entirely understood, sometime during the night of January 29, 1889 crown prince Rudolf of Austria shot and killed his lover and then took his own life, thereby... »

Memento Mori, Curious Places of Worship | Edited by Annetta

London, United Kingdom

The Cross Bones Graveyard

Medieval prostitute cemetery on the outskirts of London

Post-medieval London was a place of decency, civility and god-fearing. But post-medieval suburbs of London were another story, filled with prostitution, disease and mass burial in Cross Bones... »

Memento Mori, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries | Edited by serflac, atimian and others

Kiev, Ukraine

One Street Museum Death Mask Collection

The largest collection of death masks in Ukraine

The One Street Museum in Kiev, Ukraine has over 7,000 exhibits rich in historical content and priceless antiques. Among the museums many fascinating attractions is its extensive death mask... »

Memento Mori | Edited by bboas and Annetta

Paris, France

Remnants of the Paris Guillotine

Indents in the pavement are all that remain from a grisly death machine in Paris

Blissfully unaware of the history of Paris, one might simply trip over these five indents in the street without realizing they were once the foundation for a guillotine that carried out executions... »

Memento Mori, Retro-Tech | Edited by serflac and atimian

Vienna, Austria

Vienna Pestsaule (Plague Column)

Baroque celebration of the end of the Great Plague of Vienna

Placed in the middle of one of Vienna’s most famous streets the huge gilded, baroque confection of a sculpture at its center is in fact a memorial to the worst plague in Viennese history. The... »

Strange Statues, Memento Mori | Edited by Annetta

Grand Chemins, Jersey

La Hougue Bie

A passage grave used in neolithic rituals

Although it has long since been appropriated by two Christian chapels, La Hougue Bie was at one time the site of a vastly different set of spiritual rituals, dating back to 3500 BCE. Hougue is... »

Memento Mori, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Incredible Ruins | Edited by serflac, atimian and others

Cairo, Egypt

Cairo's City of the Dead

In Egypt's expanding metro area, many of the neighbors are dead

Just outside of Cairo, this City of the Dead used to house only corpses dating back to the 7th century. Created as an Arabic cemetery during the conquest of Egypt, the necropolis has developed... »

Memento Mori, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Eccentric Homes, Outsider Architecture | Edited by JBHewlett, serflac and 2 others

Nokhur, Turkmenistan

Nokhur Cemetery

Cemetery with goat-horn bedecked gravestones

At the cemetery of the isolated village of Nokhur, nearly every grave is marked by a wooden post adorned with the horns of a mountain goat. They are thought to fight off evil spirits, and help the... »

Memento Mori, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Rites and Rituals | Edited by Tawsam and atimian

Cherokee, Alabama, US

Key Underwood Coon Dog Cemetery

A cemetery for only coon hounds in northeast Alabama

The Coon Dog Cemetery in Cherokee, Alabama, approximately 25 miles northeast of Red Bay began in 1937 by Key Underwood when he sadly buried his faithful coon dog, Troop. They had hunted together... »

Memento Mori, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries | Edited by spinkk and atimian

Changping, China

Ming Dynasty Tombs

Ming Dynasty necropolis raided during the Cultural Revolution

China's political situation over the last 70 years could easily be described as manic. Mao Zedong proclaimed his country the People's Republic of China in 1949, and quickly began a long and... »

Memento Mori, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries | Edited by aerialdomo and atimian