Pietà, Malta

Focus on Ta' Braxia Cemetery:  Where's the body on the z-axis? Above ground. In fact, it's on a pedestal, elevated and decorated to attract attention and honor the departed. Very Victorian. [2009]

Pietà, Malta

Focus on Ta' Braxia Cemetery:  "A beloved schoolmaster of Radley College who died while on holiday in Malta": only 45 years old. It looks like his body was not repatriated, but buried on the island where he died. Heading the slab that marks his grave is the Maltese cross, which is almost like getting knighted posthumously! [2009]

Pietà, Malta

Focus on Ta' Braxia Cemetery:  Ever wonder why granite is the most popular stone for memorials? Here's what happens to limestone. Physical geographers recognize this as chemical weathering. All rainfall is just slightly acidic (as a result of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere). When an acid finds a base (in this case, calcium carbonate), carbonation occurs and the limestone slowly dissolves away. Limestone accounts for virtually all of Malta's geology. [2009]

Pietà, Malta

Focus on Ta' Braxia Cemetery:  The imposing chapel in Malta's international cemetery was built by the Governor of New Zealand for his wife. Maybe not the Taj Mahal, but still imposing! The landscape architect of the cemetery itself was Emmanuele Luigi Galizia, a Gothic Revivalist, who was only 25 years old. [2009]

Pietà, Malta

Focus on Ta' Braxia Cemetery:  In this cemetery, anyone of any faith could be buried. It was laid out by the British, and it broke the power of the Roman Catholic church over who could be buried where. It was opened in 1867, and has been enlarged since then. But, space for new burials ran out long ago. [2009]