City of the Dead is not just the name of several horror movies, this place actually exists. It is a four miles long area stretching from northern to southern part of Cairo, Egypt. City of the Dead is a weird hybrid of a gigantic cemetery with funeral monuments, tombs and mausoleums, and a home to people who live and work among their dead ancestors.
City of the Dead has old funeral traditions and in some ways it is a unique place of funeral alternatives as well. This historical necropolis dates back to the 7th century AD. Many famous Arab emirs and Mamluk rulers are buried here. In Middle Ages hundreds of custodians who were looking after noble burial monuments and family mausoleums.
Even after the conquest of Egypt by Ottomans City of the Dead still served as a place where the new governors - pashas chose to make this place their final resting place.
However, as the years rolled by, prestige of City of the Dead declined. Many impoverished Egyptians from overcrowded Cairo, peasants and farmers from nearby villages moved in settled right among the dead.
There is a beautiful family mausoleum complex surrounded by statues and top monuments in Hangzhou, China. This beautiful memorial park has tombs of a father and a son who lived in the 12the century. The entombment is dedicated to the famous Chinese poet and general Yue Fei who serves as a model of loyalty and patriotism in Chinese culture.
Famous sculptors, craftsment and architects worked on this priceless mausoleum. However, it is not an actual burial site and the final resting place of a famous general and his son Yue Yun. It is a place where Chinese people come to pay their respect to their hero.
In fact, throughout the centuries a lot of legends and myths were added to Yue Fei. Some of the describe him as a man of supernatural strength who was blessed by immortals. But we do know that Yue Fei was from a humble background and concisously patterned his life after famous Chinese heroes of the past.
General Yue Fei was an avid reader of military classics a scholar and a true gentleman. He won many military campaigns for the Chinese Song Kingdom fighting against invaders for many years. New emperor Gaozong paid him back for all his bravery by treacherously murdering Yue Fei and his son on false charges.
Later general’s honor was restored and people gave him the name Loyal Hero. A famous quote from his poetry known to every Chinese person says “Return my rivers and mountains”.
The discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun opened the modern era of Egyptology in 1922. Boy-king Tut’s private mausoleum and the burial site were practically intact, although grave robbers that did not leave a stone unturned in all other ancient cemeteries, crypts and entombments of Egyptian nobility. Final resting place of Tutahkhamun, son of revolutionary pharaoh Akhenaten, was completely overlooked in the gigantic graveyard - Valley of the Kings.
So, why Tut’s mausoleum tomb was not robbed? Archeologists claim that there were two attempts of robbery but, obviously, they occured within months of the initial burial of Tutankhamun. There is evidence that stolen items were restored in the burial chumber, meaning that the attempts obviously failed .
However, it seems that shortly after his death ninetten year old pharaoh’s name was completely forgotten and vanished from public consciousness in Egypt. The stones from other tombs safely hid his resting place, and the whereabouts of his burial site was lost for thousands of years. In fact, Tut’s tomb entrance was always close by proximity to the temporary huts of the workers in the Valley of the kings. But they did not even suspect that such a treasure was within their grasp.
Tutankhamon still rests in his climate controlled mausoleum in the Valley of the Kings. Forgotten in the past, Tut’s name, his artifacts and the tomb is the best known to the world public. It is the most exhibited too. His name even entered the popular culture if you remember Steve Martin’s song and the villain character of King Tut in the 60s Batman TV series.
Mausoleum is a building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person. Its plural form is mausolea, although in America we commonly use for plural - mausoleums. What is the origin of the word? It was derived from the name of King Mausollos, ruler of ancient kingdom of Caria. His tomb - Mausoleum - was such an architectural marvel that it was considered to be the greatest aesthetic triumph. Ancients thought of it as the highest achievement and called it one of the Seven Wonders of the Word.
