David Rising at Associated Press writes about the mixture of bones in Friedrich Schiller’s grave, none of which belong to the dead poet:
Schiller’s remains had been interred in a mausoleum in Weimar’s Jacobs cemetery that the state kept for distinguished citizens. But the remains were mixed with others, and when a total of 23 skulls were found, the city’s mayor, Carl Leberecht Schwabe - a Schiller fan - declared that the biggest must have been that of the philosophic writer.
A skeleton believed to match the skull was then put together with it, and both were buried in 1827 in the city’s Fuerstengruft cemetery. Germany’s most revered writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - who was Schiller’s friend - was buried in a crypt alongside him in 1832 and today the site is visited by some 60,000 people per year.
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May 7th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Well, at least they know where Goethe lies. But isn’t this fascinating? Who is buried next to his best friend nowadays? Always wives and dogs…
jb says: Hi David. Yes, and traditionally you got to lie next to (on top of or underneath) the whole family, didn’t matter if you got on in life or not, it’s so easy to get on with each other once we’re dead.