BestMausoleum.com - Mausoleums, Monuments, Memorials of the World

One of the most interesting modern mausoleums has been located in Central Java province which is a part of the Republic of Indonesia.  It is a grand   mausoleum complex for the Suharto family named Astana Giribangun which is translated from Javanese into English as a “Palace of Arisen Mountain”. 

Suharto was a second president of Indonesia who ruled his country with an iron hand from 1967 to 1998 and passed away in January 2008. His mausoleum construction and subsequent entombment partially occupies a huge cemetery and memorial park famous for  the burial sites of the royal Java kings and their families. 

The history of the mausoleum is the following. President Suharto chose this place for construction before his death because this exact  location is considered a powerful magical place by many Indonesian   spiritualists and soothsayers.  The granite mausoleum building was created in traditional Javanese architectural style to serve as last place for the remains of Suharto’s late wife and her mother in 1996.

Moving the crypts of his relatives to the the mosoleum instead of the regular cemetery lots led to the huge controversy in the Indonesian and, especially, Javanese society.  Some thought that Suharto’s wife should not have been buried at this sacred place as she was not of true royal blood but a simple commoner.

Eventually, this incident grew as a snowball and ended in court. The decision of the court was even more astounding.  It allowed president Suharto to have the mosoleum complex and family monuments at the cemetery but they should not be higher than existing royal tombs.  

This the incident was resolved and in January 2008 president died and joined his relatives in the mausoleum, where he was buried with full state military honors.

Only for several days every year public can visit one the most remarkable places in Great Britain - Hamilton Palace Mausoleum. It is the family mausoleum that is a part of the Hamilton Palace complex which is the largest non-royal residence in the western world. Mausoleum design was developed in the middle of 19th century by David Hamilton and the whole structure was completed in 1858 by architects David Bryce and Alexander Richie. Originally, the 10th Duke Hamilton planned this Roman-style burial place to be a private mausoleum for his family members on his land in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland.

Inside the mausoleum, the 10th Duke Hamilton was buried in a sarcophagus, built in the ancient Egyptian style.  The remains of almost two dozen of his ancestors were buried in the crypt below. Later, during the big flooding from river Clyde, the human remains of this grand and unique mausoleum were moved out of this entombment and re-buried in the local cemetery.

The grand marble and granite mausoleum is not only famous of its size, although the latter is remarkable too as it occupies a site of 650 feet and reaches the height of 123 feet. Mausoleum builders “equipped” it with the longest-lasting echo of any building in the world. The visitors of the impressive mausoleum can also witness the acoustic effect that is nicknamed “whispering walls”.  If two people would stand on the opposite sides at both ends of the interior walls facing each other, they  can easily conduct a whispered conversation. Another interesting detail of the family mausoleum was a giant glass oculus on the dome. In 1970 it was emoved and replaced by a perspex version with the help of a helicopter.

Hamilton Palace Mausoleum