Bright and organic, with peaceful, private areas: The new urn grove in Zagreb was built as a welcoming place for the contemporary culture of remembrance.
A place to linger in commemoration with a sweeping view over Zagreb, surrounded by natural landscape: The Mirogoj cemetery in Croatia is situated on the slope of the Medvednica mountain. An urn grove was built here in keeping with the style of the crematorium.
Since its inauguration 30 years ago, the crematorium, made of light-coloured brick, has been one of the most important projects in Zagreb. The same architectural firm has now designed an impressive urn grove, which received the BIG SEE Award in 2022 in the category “Landscape and Urban Spaces”.
The terrain of the cemetery slopes sharply downward: The 20m incline has been bridged using staircases and ramps. In this green, sloping setting, the burial urns are separated into several levels by the design of the light-coloured brick walls. “The change of elevation that is very striking and dramatic at this site underscores the existing harmony and creates new functional advantages,” explain the architects.
Eleven walls run in parallel curving paths along the mountainside and connect directly to the crematorium. The language of shapes and colours and the choice of material for the design are directly related to the existing architecture: To match the crematorium, Terca Havelland was used, a light-coloured, extruded clinker brick in warm shades of ochre.
The walls run along curving paths, sometimes becoming broader and then narrower again. As they go, they form small, peaceful courtyards, protected from onlookers, and places of greater privacy for remembrance. Benches and resting places for sitting are arranged in an open area. The project was designed around a fundamental approach to the natural material of clay as a basis and to the living natural surroundings as a setting: The architects regard the crematorium architecture as a component “of the dialogue between the ground and the rippling walls submerged into the beyond”.
One special element is the black wall made of polished granite. It is the only wall that is not curved. Reflections of the other walls, of the crematorium and the cenotaph of the cemetery, in which an eternal flame has burned since 1985, are cast onto the polished surface of this wall. The architects chose a reserved and easily interpretable design and consciously integrated the natural surroundings as an element of life within the walls of eternity.
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