This cemetery was built in its definitive form after
the model of Italian campi santi in 1590-94. The burial
place had been positioned, in connection with the remodelling
of the Marktplatz, outside the city walls in 1529 from
fear of disease.
The City Architect Nickel Hofmann
created a masterpiece inspired by Italian Renaissance examples.
After a 5-6 metre high wall had been built, he conceived
the audacious plan to surround the whole cemetery with what
were to be 94 arcaded tomb spaces each enclosed with its
finely worked iron grill or wooden lattice. The fronts of
the arcading are decorated in what is from an art-historical
point of view, a particularly fine way. Among those buried
here are August Herrmann Francke, Christian Thomasius, Robert
Franz, August Hermann Niemeyer and Ludwig Wucherer. The
entrance to the burial ground was provided by Hofmann with
a gate tower, giving the whole the impression of a fortification.
On 31st March 1945 bombing coursed such great damage that
27 of the arches were destroyed. The City administration
has made great efforts and dedicated an annual budget of
a million marks to bring the historic cemetery back to its
original beauty. Since 1998 the former chapel and the gardener's
house have been restored to use. Restoration work continues.
