In The Cemeteries of New Orleans, Peter B. Dedek reveals the
origins and evolution of the Crescent City's world-famous
necropolises, exploring both their distinctive architecture and
their cultural impact. Spanning centuries, this fascinating body of
research takes readers from muddy fields of crude burial markers to
extravagantly designed cities of the dead, illuminating a vital and
vulnerable piece of New Orleans's identity. Where many histories of
New Orleans cemeteries have revolved around the famous people
buried within them, Dedek focuses on the marble cutters, burial
society members, journalists, and tourists who shaped these
graveyards into internationally recognizable emblems of the city.
In addition to these cultural actors, Dedek's exploration of
cemetery architecture reveals the impact of ancient and medieval
grave traditions and styles, the city's geography, and the arrival
of trained European tomb designers, such as the French architect J.
N. B. de Pouilly in 1833 and Italian artist and architect Pietro
Gualdi in 1851. As Dedek shows, the nineteenth century was a
particularly critical era in the city's cemetery design. Notably,
the cemeteries embodied traditional French and Spanish precedents,
until the first garden cemetery- the Metairie Cemetery- was built
on the site of an old racetrack in 1872. Like the older walled
cemeteries, this iconic venue served as a lavish expression of
fraternal and ethnic unity, a backdrop to exuberant social
celebrations, and a destination for sightseeing excursions. During
this time, cultural and religious practices, such as the
celebration of All Saints' Day and the practice of Voodoo rituals,
flourished within the spatial bounds of these resting places. Over
the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, however,
episodes of neglect and destruction gave rise to groups that aimed
to preserve the historic cemeteries of New Orleans- an endeavor,
which, according to Dedek, is still wanting for resources and
political will. Containing ample primary source material, abundant
illustrations, appendices on both tomb styles and the history of
each of the city's eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cemeteries,
The Cemeteries of New Orleans offers a comprehensive and intriguing
resource on these fascinating historic sites.
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