For our first blog post, we wanted to explore religious themes across the countries we are studying/ have visited during our study abroad experience. Sweden and France are fairly secular countries while Spain has deep religious ties with the Catholic Church. While the Czech Republic was dominated by Christianity until the first half of the 20th century, religion was steadily declined and now it is a fairly secular state. During our explorations, we came across burial sites and cemeteries. We were interested in the ties religious structures have to burial grounds and how it changes with the countries history with religion.

 

Katolska Domkyrkan i Stockholm

The cathedral is on the island of Södermalm in southern Stockholm. Diego attended a Spanish mass service there this past weekend. Sweden has an image of being a highly secularized and homogenous society, but the Catholic service in Spanish demonstrates the reality of Sweden as a country home to influences from many countries with a wide array of beliefs.

 

St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague, Czech Republic

This tomb supposedly lies the body of King Bretislaus II of Bohemia and another tomb on the other side lies Duke Bořivoj II of Bohemia. These are monarchy of the now-known modern-day Czech Republic.  What makes this interesting is there seems to be no known connection between these two monarchs of Bohemia and Barcelona especially since they died about one hundred years before the construction of this church began. However, the elaborate craftsmanship with the coat of arms on the sides of the tomb as well as the sculpture figures on top of the tomb highlight the significance and power these two monarchs had over Bohemia.

Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, Paris, France

The Cimetière du Père-Lachaise is the most visited cemetery in the world with three and a half million visitors annually. It is located in the 20th arrondissement in Paris. What I find interesting about this cemetery is the elaborate burial grounds where most tombs were inside mausoleums or had elaborate designs like in the picture shown above. The cemetery does not have a direct religious affiliation which is consistent with France’s history as a secular state but each part of the cemetery is connected with a different religion so people with all religious backgrounds can be buried here.