Imagine a cemetery with no gravestones! This is exactly what it’s like walking into the Südfriedhof in Cologne. It’s a beautiful, very spacious park, in fact, areawise Cologne’s largest cemetery, second to Melaten.Of course, there are gravestones, some with very elaborate sculptures, but in this setting of very old trees and well-planned plantings, you quickly forget that you’re in a cemetery.     Our guide, an art historian specializing in cemeteries, was able to show us the most interesting sculptures. And he had a wealth of information about famous locals who are buried here. He stressed the fact that, in contrast to Melaten, local prominence was buried here. He had to chuckle when we openly showed that we didn’t know many of the well-known persons.

 For us the highlight was the British cemetery, founded in 1922 for soldiers of the Commonwealth killed in both of the World Wars. More than 3000 are lying here. The exact lines of white gravestones, lightened up  by  lilac-coloured iris, was very impressive.  

We did quite a lot of walking that day, but the weather was perfect. The group was small, only 10 of us, so we were able to chat as we went along, (much to the chagrin of our guide at some points). We had a nice lunch at Haus Schäffer directly across from the entrance to the Südfriedhof, which, by the way,  is easily accessible by tram or bus to Zollstock.