50 famous graves and cemeteries around the world

West Point, New York

The Civil War general, best known for his "final blow" at the Battle of Little Big Horn, rests in West Point Cemetery along with many other notable military men from U.S. history. His grave is marked by a Washington Monument-style pillar with intricate engraving at the base.

Hana, Hawaii

The first man to fly solo across the Atlantic, Charles Lindbergh rests in eternity on the island of Maui, atop a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. His picturesque grave bears the inscription, "If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the very depths of the sea...". It is located behind the Palapala Ho'omau Church, the first place on the island where you can see the sunrise every morning.

Paris

Paris

Paris

Above the tomb of the Polish Romantic composer Frederic Chopin is a moss-covered stone sculpture of Euterpe, the muse of music, holding a broken instrument. This is another example of the magnificent architecture of tombs with famous and unknown names that makes Père-Lachaise one of the most popular places in Paris.

Heptonstall, England

Although fans have always left flowers and writing materials as a mark of respect, poet and writer Sylvia Plath's simple grave in St. Thomas' churchyard has long been the subject of controversy because of the inclusion of the surname "Hughes" by her husband and fellow poet Ted Hughes, whom some blamed for her death. The word was repeatedly knocked down with a chisel before being cast in bronze to stop vandalism.

Glendale, California

Bette Davis, actress and star of such classic Hollywood films as "All About Eve," did not shy away from the sarcastic wit she displayed on screen in choosing the epitaph, "She did it the hard way," engraved on her elegant family grave in Forest Lawn Memorial Park near the Hollywood Hills, sometimes called "the cemetery of the stars."

Glendale, California

Another famous actress of Hollywood's golden age, Elizabeth Taylor, is buried under an angel with her arms outstretched in the hallway at Forest Lawn Memorial Terrace. There are other notable graves in this famous luxury cemetery belonging to Walt Disney, Michael Jackson and Nat King Cole. However, don't expect any help in finding them on site.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

At La Recoleta Cemetery, visitors can pay their respects at the beautifully baroque graves of actors, writers, chemists and 18 Argentine presidents, but most foreign tourists come here for the simpler bronze tomb of Eva Perón, actress and wife of President Juan Perón, who inspired the famous musical Evita.

Ketchum, Idaho

Ernest Hemingway was almost as famous for his forays into nature as he was for his sparse prose style, so it is fitting that the author is buried in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho alongside his wife, son, and granddaughter. His grave in Ketchum Cemetery is modest and appropriate: a flat stone slab, often covered by fallen brush and sometimes by liquor bottles left as a memorial.

London

Isaac Newton, scientist, astronomer, creator of the laws of motion and the theory of gravity, is buried in Westminster Abbey in the chapel of his home Trinity College. The ornate memorial sculpture depicts Newton lying down and a relief with boys playing with a telescope and other scientific instruments.

London

London

The last of Jack the Ripper's five confirmed victims, Mary Kelly was a prostitute living in poverty when she was murdered by an unknown killer in 1888. Although no family members attended her funeral, today she is laid to rest with many flowers at Leytonstone Roman Catholic Cemetery.

Oxfordshire

Winston Churchill, a historical icon and two-time prime minister best known for leading Britain during World War II, was honored after his death in 1965 with a huge state funeral attended by representatives from 112 countries. Today he is honored at Westminster Abbey, but rests in the family plot in St. Martin's Churchyard.

London

Regardless of how one feels about Karl Marx's ideas, his grave is an impressive memorial that matches the German philosopher's enormous influence on modern history. He died stateless but was buried in East Highgate Cemetery in England, where there is a large stone obelisk topped by a bust of his stern face.

Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

William Shakespeare remains the most famous and arguably the most influential playwright in history. Thousands of visitors flock to Holy Trinity Church each year to see the author's garish sculpture over his unkept grave with an inscription meant to deter burglars: "Blessed be he who spares these stones, and cursed be he who moves my bones".

Amherst, Massachusetts

Emily Dickinson's minimalist headstone in Amherst's West Cemetery has no quotes from the poet's spiritual works, only the inscription "Called Back" and the date of death. Her family plot is delineated by a black iron fence, on which admirers leave flowers in her memory.

Havana, Cuba

The grave of this 24-year-old woman, who died with her son during childbirth, has become one of the most revered sites in Havana's Cementerio de Cristobal Colon because of the story behind it. Legend has it that she was buried with a baby at her feet, and years later her grief-stricken husband opened the grave and discovered that the child was now in her arms, which is what the statue above the grave depicts.

Richmond, Virginia

In the cemetery where U.S. Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler and numerous Confederate leaders are interred, a cast-iron statue of a Newfoundland dog draws attention to the grave of Florence Bernadine Reese, a two-year-old girl who died of scarlet fever during the Civil War.

Elmira, New York

Mark Twain, author of the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, was buried alongside U.S. veterans and congressmen at Woodlawn Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark with a history as a Confederate prison camp. Nevertheless, many visitors come here primarily to see the headstone and adjacent monument honoring one of America's most respected and enduring writers and humorists.

Cathedral City, California

Cathedral City, California

After meeting Blue Eyes or Sonny Bono, visit the nation's first memorial dedicated to LGBT veterans. The obelisk, unveiled on Memorial Day 2001, honors the contributions of gay and transgender Americans who served in the military with a plaque depicting a bald eagle.

Althorp, England

Princess Diana was mourned by the world after her tragic death in 1997 and is buried on an island in a lake called the Oval on the Spencer family estate. The public is only allowed to visit the island once a year in the summer, where they can see her grave and walk along a path lined with 36 birch trees symbolizing the years of her short life.

Nine Mile, Jamaica

Reggae innovator and cultural icon Bob Marley also passed away in his 36th year and was buried in his native Jamaica, where his birthday was declared a national holiday following his death from cancer. For four days around February 6, thousands of fans from Jamaica and abroad gather at Bob Marley's mausoleum for a music festival held at the singer's birthplace and final resting place.

Los Angeles

A sex symbol of the silver screen who turned into a tragic figure after her death at the age of 36, Marilyn Monroe occupies crypt 24 in Westwood Memorial Park. The grave bears only her name and years of life, but fans pay their respects by leaving flowers and lipstick smears. Now visitors to Monroe's grave will be able to see two celebrity burials at once. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, who passed away in 2017, was buried in a crypt next to Monroe's grave. Monroe was the centerpiece of the magazine's first issue, which launched a worldwide media empire.

Zurich, Switzerland

James Joyce, perhaps the most famous author in all of Irish literature, went into self-exile from his politically unstable homeland in 1902 and died without return in 1941.He was buried in Fluntern Cemetery next to his wife and child, watched over by a small statue of the famous writer.

Chilmark, Massachusetts

John Belushi's tombstone, befitting the comedian and star of Saturday Night Live, looks like a Halloween decoration and bears the proud inscription, "I'm gone, but rock 'n' roll goes on." A more modest surname stone lies nearby in Chilmark Cemetery on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

Arlington, Virginia

An eternal flame burns on the grave of President John F. Kennedy, whose assassination during his first term in 1963 became one of the most tragic tragedies of the second half of the 20th century. Kennedy's remains rest alongside those of his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and brothers Robert and Ted Kennedy.

Brooklyn, New York

Green-Wood Cemetery is the final resting place of notable figures such as composer Leonard Bernstein and politician Boss Tweed, but most visitors come here to honor native street artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who died of a dose of heroin in 1988 at the age of 27. His headstone is often decorated with flowers, art supplies and lighters left by grieving fans.

New York

After his death in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr, America's first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in Lower Manhattan. While this cemetery remains the only active cemetery in Manhattan, it is also the final resting place of many other American statesmen and veterans, dating back to the church's founding in 1697.

Los Angeles

The Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which holds an annual memorial ceremony to benefit cancer research, features a statue of a punk guitar pioneer. There, visitors can also pay their respects to famous showbiz personalities such as Anton Yelchin, Mickey Rooney or Mel Blanc, the Looney Tunes voice actor, whose tombstone reads, "Here come all the friends."

New York

John Lennon was murdered in Manhattan and his ashes scattered in Central Park, known as Strawberry Fields. Buskers play Beatles songs and fans leave flowers at the Imagine memorial in the park and on the steps of his former home, the Dakota apartment.

Montreux, Switzerland

No one knows where Freddie Mercury's ashes are buried, except his former partner Mary Austin, who buried him. Everyone else can honor the singer and Queen frontman at his impressive memorial statue overlooking Lake Geneva in Montreux, where Mercury spent many of his final days. Fans have also turned the outside walls of his Garden Lodge mansion in London into a public shrine with graffiti dedicated to the deceased.

Fairmount, Indiana

James Dean was already an influential actor and an icon of teenage angst by the time he died in a car accident in 1955, at the age of 24. He is buried under a simple headstone, often covered with kiss marks from fans, in Park Cemetery near his hometown in Indiana, where an annual festival is held in his honor every September.

Fort Washakie, Wyoming

It is not known exactly whether Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman who served as a guide on the Lewis and Clark expedition, died in 1812 or 1884, and it is equally unknown whether she is actually buried under a gravestone bearing her name in Sacagawea Cemetery on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. In any case, the place is worth a visit to see her headstone along with the headstones of her family members.

Boston

In the heart of historic downtown Boston is the Granary Burying Ground Cemetery, which dates back to 1660 but is the third oldest cemetery in Boston. Here are the graves of such heroes of the American Revolution and signers of the Declaration of Independence as Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Crispus Attucks, and Robert Paine. Also note the granite obelisk from the same quarry as the Bunker Hill monument honoring Benjamin Franklin's relatives.

Barre, Vermont

This 65-acre cemetery in the city that calls itself the "Granite Capital of the World" is not only the resting place of more than 10,000 souls, but is also a sculpture gallery of original, individual works by Barre stonemasons. Stone depictions of a race car, a biplane flying alongside Cloud 9, and a motorcycle approaching the pearly gates are just a few of the whimsical tributes to the memory of the departed.

San Diego

At Fort Rosecrans Cemetery, shaded by native Torrey pines and surrounded by the waters of the Pacific Ocean and San Diego Bay, one sees only neat rows of white marble headstones bearing the names of more than 113,000 veterans and their loved ones. The California National Cemetery and Historic Landmark is a modest 77-acre site open to the public from dawn to dusk.

Savannah, Georgia

This beautiful cemetery became world-famous for the role it played in John Berendt's best-selling novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Although the statue of the Bird Girl featured on the cover of the book was removed due to vandalism, visitors can explore the green space to see other ornate mausoleums and angel sculptures.

Săpanca, Romania

This Romanian city has been finding colorful ways to pay tribute to its dead since 1935, when artist Stan Ioan Patras began the tradition of making tombstones in the form of crosses in bright colors, each bearing poems and images that tell of the deceased's life and accomplishments. The lavish headstones are beautiful and the inscriptions are often hilarious, revealing the dirty secrets and strange quirks of the deceased's life.

Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

More than 100 temples make up Japan's largest cemetery, a sacred forest site to which Buddhists often make pilgrimages. In addition to monuments dedicated to the souls of termites and puffer fish used for culinary purposes, there is the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism, illuminated by 10,000 awe-inspiring lanterns.

Prague, Czech Republic

The crowded Jewish cemetery in Prague contains at least 12,000 headstones and 100,000 bodies buried in the ground beneath overlapping graves. The cemetery dates back to the 15th century.

Oaxaca, Mexico

This cemetery in southern Mexico comes alive each year during the Day of the Dead celebration, when Oaxaca residents gather to drink mescal and decorate graves with marigolds, candles and food to welcome the spirits of lost loved ones. But even outside of the post-Halloween vigils, the historic cemetery is a humble and beautiful burial ground.

Kolkata, India

This tropical overgrown cemetery, established in 1767, is the final resting place of the British Raj, former colonial rulers who were commemorated by Gothic-style monuments in honor of their deaths. Find the grave of Major General Charles Stewart, one of the few British rulers to embrace Hindu culture. His tomb is built in the form of a Hindu temple surrounded by stone sculptures of deities.