The Old Cemetery (Alter Friedhof) was built between 1810 and 1813 and was the first municipal cemetery in Schleswig-Holstein. At that time, it was situated before the city’s gates between the gardens of two merchants Stuhr and Christiansen. The cemetery and its chapel were designed by the architect Axel Bundsen. They are outstanding examples of classicism that have remained almost unchanged to this day.[1] There are memorial stones and graves of honour for the victims of the wars in 1848-51 and 1864 in the cemetery. The bones of more than 400 unknown soldiers rest in a mound covered with boulders along with those of known victims of the two wars.[2] The Idstedt Lion has also been back on its original place in the cemetery since 2011. Originally erected there by the Danes in 1862, it was removed by the Prussians in 1867.
[1] Thomas Messerschmidt & Broder Schwensen (Hrsg.): “Ein schöner Garten Gottes” 200-year-old Alter Friedhof in Flensburg. GFS, volume 7, 2013
[2] Lars N. Henningsen & Broder Schwensen: In Freundschaft und Vertrauen. Die Rückkehr des Idstedt-Löwen nach Flensburg 2011. Harrislee 2012, p. 40
« Back to Glossary Index