The Melaten Cemetery in Cologne Park Maintenance

In 1810, in Napoleonic times, the Melaten cemetery was established as Cologne's first municipal cemetery on the Aachener Chaussée. The oldest part was planned by Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe and repeatedly extended in 7 subsequent steps. Today, a system of magnificent old avenues runs through and structures the cemetery and its 134 corridors. Among the 55,000 graves are monuments of the highest artistic value, of which 2,400 alone are listed. With the gravesites of mayors, industrialists, artists, churchmen and carnivalists, Melaten is a reflection of Cologne's urban history over the past two centuries. In order to preserve the authenticity of Melaten and the adjoining Old Ehrenfeld Cemetery, a park maintenance plan is currently being drawn up. With research on the history of the park and its development, the inventory and evaluation of trees, hedges and path structures, and finally a catalogue of measures to be taken, care and maintenance work, new plantings of hedges, trees and avenues are to be directed in such a way that the beauty of this irreplaceable work of garden art will be preserved and experienced by future generations.