One thing is certain in life: we all die in the end. The question of people’s final resting place is therefore not insignificant. In the year 1829, Sparrendreef General Cemetery was opened in Vianen. This cemetery consisted of 3 parts separated by hedges, namely the general cemetery, the Catholic cemetery and the Jewish cemetery. There was also a variety of special objects, such as the funerary monument of Jan Blanken, an 18th-Century entrance gate and a monumental chestnut tree.
The burial history of Vianen officially began in the year 1345. …
One thing is certain in life: we all die in the end. The question of people’s final resting place is therefore not insignificant. In the year 1829, Sparrendreef General Cemetery was opened in Vianen. This cemetery consisted of 3 parts separated by hedges, namely the general cemetery, the Catholic cemetery and the Jewish cemetery. There was also a variety of special objects, such as the funerary monument of Jan Blanken, an 18th-Century entrance gate and a monumental chestnut tree.
The burial history of Vianen officially began in the year 1345. In the same year, the Grote Kerk was granted burial rights and the Catholic dead could be buried in a cemetery behind the town wall around the church. In 1829, a new law prohibited the burial of the dead within the church and even inside the town limits and a Catholic cemetery was constructed on Sparrendreef alongside the general cemetery.
The Jewish cemetery on Sparrendreef was the third Jewish cemetery in Vianen. The first Jewish cemetery was probably built around 1720 and is situated on the edge of a dike. In 1818, this cemetery literally disappeared from view when it was covered with earth when the outer harbour on the Merwede Canal was laid. By that time, the second Jewish cemetery on Walsland was already in use. In 1820, the cemetery on Sparrendreef was put into use and replaced the cemetery on Walsland.
Further reading: Dutch Reformed Church Hagestein, Former synagogue, Vianen town centre, Grote Kerk Vianen (Great Church), Jan Blankenweg lock complex, Jan Blanken funerary monument.
