art nouveau entrance to zentralfriedhof, Vienna

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The Art Nouveau or Jugendstil gates at the Zentralfriedhof Central Cemetery. They are the entrance to Europe's biggest cemetery with over three million dead bodies in over 300,000 graves. The Zentralfriedhof is 2.4 square kilometres big and has its own busline. Walking at a fast pace, it still takes you half an hour to get once across the cemetery.

Most people who are buried there are Catholics or nothing (being good Austrians), but there are also large sections for Jews, Muslims, Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Buddhists and atheists. The Zentralfriedhof was founded in 1874, but got its Jugenstil Elements after the turn of the century; the central piece, the Karl-Borromäo-Church, was built in 1910. You will see the church on a different picture.