In the previous post I left you with a photo impression of St. Barbara’s catholic cemetery in Utrecht, and I promised you that we would visit some of the special sections of St. Barbara.

There are several special sections here, like the bishops’ graves, the war graves, the children’s section, or the Polish graves. We will visit some of these sections soon. Today I want to show you an exceptional find. In a small corner on the western side of St Barbara there are a few striking graves: The zigeunergraven (gypsy graves).

The graves are large and flamboyant, it is clear that the gypsy community takes burying their dead seriously. Most graves are decorated with crucifixes and images of Jesus or Mary, and nearly all graves have a photo of the deceased. There are plenty of candles and flowers (though the flowers are not always fresh). A small part of the texts on the grave monuments is in Dutch, most of it is in a language that I don’t understand, but there seems to be lots of information on the stones.

This article is submitted to the first edition of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival. The topic of this edition is exceptional finds.