Mausoleums – The New Age of Resting In Style

Who said that you have to go without your favorite amenities, even after your passing? This was the exact sentiment that the infamous Mexican drug lords had in mind when they constructed some of North America’s most lavish and fully equipped mausoleums. Built in the capital city of Sinaloa, these custom-built resting places come with air conditioning, wi-fi access, guest bedrooms, full kitchens, and even private movie theaters. Fashioned after their everyday homes, these jaw-dropping mausoleums cost no less than $250,000 and are monitored by security cameras 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Memorial Monument: An Investment In Self

Each expenditure of capital, regardless of intent, is a form of investment. Business expenses are often an investment in innovation and progress. Charitable donation, a noble act which also provides a handsome tax deduction is, itself, an investment in humanity. Lastly, earmarking a modicum of your wealth in consideration of end-of-life and afterlife planning is an investment in your own and your family’s legacy.

Through history, monuments have been erected to commemorate important events, groups, and individuals. One’s first visit to our nation’s capital is an awe inspiring experience: traveling past the massive obelisk that is The Washington Monument or reflecting before the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a painstakingly crafted monument that stands as a testament to those soldiers who gave the last full measure of devotion. Monuments also dot the landscape of our nation’s cities and towns, recognizing city fathers and local heroes. There are also self-funded monuments by prominent members of prominent families who want to protect the family name while also seeking to ensure their individuality will forever be recognized.

The single best way to memorialize an important life is with the construction of a family mausoleum. Not only do certain unique and personal design implements herald the remarkable lives of the persons interred, but also the importance of the family name lives on in perpetuity.

Dead Men Tell No Tales

A final resting place is hallowed ground to be approached with an air of solemnity and a reverence for the individual who is buried or interred. We use these memorials as a way to quietly reflect on the lives of our loved ones. For these reasons and more, the recent act of Richard Hall of Spokane Valley, WA is unthinkable and abhorrent to most.

Hall, aged 30, was recently arrested by local police for the destruction of property and theft of small valuables from inside an area mausoleum. Detectives were able to track Hall down thanks to the presence of his fingerprints in the defaced memorial as well as security surveillance video shot during the crime. 

Mausoleum Art Exhibition Brings Back Figures of The Gilded Age

One of the most famous cemeteries in the country is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a spectacular art party. As reported by the New York Times, the Bronx’s Woodlawn Cemetery is exhibiting its Gilded Age tombs at Columbia University’s Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, starting on Sept. 3: “Sylvan Cemetery: Architecture, Art and Landscape at Woodlawn.”

The exhibit features mausoleum artwork, furniture, stained glass, ironwork, and sculptures from the Gilded Age period (1870s to 1900). Curators of the exhibition took extra steps contextualize the pieces, including researching tomb designers and tomb inhabitants and reaching out to descendants of the deceased individuals entombed at Woodlawn.

The Last Link to a Bygone Era: Civil War Mausoleum To Be Restored

It’s difficult to envision a cemetery that was once “the center of town life,” but the grounds at Zion Chapel on Hilton Head Island (off the coast of South Carolina) was just that. The cemetery was the heart of the island’s settlements in the pre-Civil War period until Union soldiers invaded in 1861 and was the final resting place of numerous Civil War soldiers.

The cemetery has weathered the last 165 years, but now its historic Banyard Mausoleum is on the brink of collapsing, and the Heritage Library Foundation hopes to raise $175,000 for renovations. The group intends to preserve the historic antebellum architecture of the structure, which is the island’s oldest and only surviving building from the Civil War period. It houses the remains of affluent planter William Eddings Banyard and his family. The marble-covered crypt holds 21 burial chambers that are still intact, though only seven people were interred within.

2,100 Year-Old Royal Mausoleum Discovered in China

Archaeologists recently discovered the 2,100 year-old tomb of Chinese King Liu Fei, who died in 128 BC. The mountaintop excavation, which took two years, unearthed 10,000 artifacts made of gold, silver, bronze, and jade.

As befitting a ruler known for “extreme arrogance and luxury,” according to historians, Liu Fei entered the afterlife in grand style. Replete with all the treasures of the ancient world, his mausoleum offers a glimpse of his luxurious lifestyle, boasting:

Eisenstadt, Austria: The Eternal Home of Joseph Haydn

The quaint Austrian town of Eisenstadt, home to little more than 13,000 people, is the state capital of Burgenland. Nestled in the foothills of the Leitha Mountains, this town has a long and storied history that dates back to well before the time of Christ.

Located only a 45 minute drive from Vienna, the town of Eisenstadt is known for its wine production, beautiful castles, religious architecture, and the many museums that call the city home. It is, however, Eisenstadt’s most famous resident who is responsible for bringing the town to life each year. 

Multi-Million Dollar Restoration of Roman Emperor Augustus’ Mausoleum Begins

Augustus may have initiated the era of the Pax Romana, but there has been little peace at his gravesite in the centuries following his death.

The mausoleum holding the remains of the founder and first emperor of Rome has withstood a series of rowdy events and interlopers, including a group of invaders who sacked the tomb in 410, a bullfighting ring, a cat colony, and present-day prostitutes. However, archaeologists and the city of Rome have furnished funding and plans to restore the mausoleum to its former glory.

New Zealand’s Biggest Cemetery Plans Space-Saving Hillside Mausoleum

Waikumete Cemetery, the biggest cemetery in Auckland, spans 1.08 square kilometers but is running out of space. A popular place for burials, the cemetery has filled up the majority of its burial plots and mausoleums and is planning to expand to keep up with demand.

Waikumete was established in 1886 and serves as one of the city’s cultural landmarks. The cemetery currently has 59 private mausoleums, the first of which dates back to 1914. Waikumete’s two public mausoleums hold 24 and 96 people, respectively, and patrons are quickly snapping up available spaces.

Bronx Cemetery to Sell Over 2,000 Mausoleum Plots Near Jazz Legends

Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx has added 2,275 new mausoleum and burial plots to the “Jazz Corner” of its cemetery grounds – where jazz legends Miles Davis, Max Roach, and Duke Ellington are interred. According to the cemetery’s executive director, the plots are selling like hot cakes.