International Rabbit 7/1/2010

International Rabbit

by Henk Van Kampen

Willem Marinus Dudok (1884-1974), a renowned architect, was City Architect of the Dutch town Hilversum. In this capacity, he designed many buildings - you can see his work everywhere if you visit Hilversum. His masterpiece is the town hall of Hilversum. Dudok did not only design buildings, though. He was also the architect of the Zuiderhof cemetery in Hilversum.

Dudok designed the Zuiderhof cemetery in the 1950s, and it opened in the 1960s, so it's a relatively new cemetery, without old graves.

Graveyard Rabbits visiting the Zuiderhof cemetery will certainly notice the patterns of squares and rectangles that return everywhere. This is a key element of Dudok's design. The cemetery was also almost symmetrical, though later extensions spoiled that. The symmetry and rectangular design are clearly visible on Google Maps.

We start our architecture tour at the entrance. Outside is a waiting area, with covered galleries to protect waiters against the rain. Note the squares on the floor, and the rectangular patterns in the galleries.

Note the squares everywhere, on the floor, the ceiling, the chairs. The windows are rectangular. The auditorium is rectangular and symmetric. The chairs are placed symmetrically.

The auditorium has a church organ, but Dudok decided the organ did not fit into his design. It is therefore hidden behind a wall, with a gap between the wall and the ceiling for the sound to pass. The organ was made especially for this auditorium, and the makers used every trick they could think of to lift the sound over the wall. And with success, the organ sounds well enough (though not terrific). You can see the gap on the left image, above the wall.

From the auditorium we have a wide, unobstructed view over the cemetery, but there is not a grave in sight. This, too, was part of the design of Dudok.

So where are the graves? The original cemetery (without later extensions) consists of three square parts: The empty central section we can see from the entrance or from the auditorium, and to the right and left of it are sections with graves.

The grave sections consist of rectangles with two rows of graves. The rows are divided by a line of trees or bushes, and the rectangles are divided by paths. Each rectangle has a different kind of (usually rare) bush or tree. Indeed, there are so many different kind of trees that the cemetery is an internationally renowned arboretum!

There are strict rules for the graves in this cemetery. Plots are assigned, no choice of plot here. Monuments other than headstones are strictly forbidden. That does not mean all graves are uniform - have a look at my Zuiderhof photos on flickr to see a few headstones.

Let's enter the cemetery and visit the auditorium.