South Park Street Cemetery

A significant Kolkata heritage, the South Park Street Cemetery definitely calls for a visit if you want to experience something truly unique in the City of Joy. The cemetery is famed for being one of the non-church cemeteries in the world and also for being the largest Christian burial ground outside America and Europe in the 19th century. The cemetery was opened in 1767 and was in use till 1790. Later it was declared a heritage site and is currently protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Most of the tombs belong to expatriates who were once a part of Kolkata’s history.
It houses the graves of some distinguished European figures who played a key role in India. These include Sir William Jones (founder of Asiatic Society), Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (revolutionist, poet, teacher and founder of the Young Bengal Movement), C.F. Andrews (Church of England Priest, educator and social reformer), Michael Madhusudan Dutta (the anglicized poet of Bengal), and son of Charles Dickens.

Admire the numerous tombs at the burial ground that are a rich mix of Gothic and Indo-Saracenic style. Mostly made of sandstone, the tombs are square, circular or rectangular in size. They reflect an utmost European style ranging from Grecian urns to Romanesque copulas, cairns, obelisks and pyramids. Some are even influenced by Hindu structural design. Architecturally impressive, all the structures are reminiscent of the grandeur of the colonial times.
Spread over eight acres of land surrounded by high brick walls and an assortment of foliage—the South Park Street Cemetery offers a quaint ambience. If you are the brave-hearted one and want to experience something distinctive, do visit the cemetery. It is advisable that you visit it in groups.