INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION
OF FUNERAL
MUSEUMS
IAFM
Fédération Internationale des Associations de Thanatoloques
International Federation of Thanatologists Associations
THE WORLD ORGANIZATION OF FUNERAL OPERATIVES
Funeral Heritage
Report 2010
THE WORLD ORGANIZATION OF FUNERAL OPERATIVES
Colofon
Biannual publication of FIAT-IFTA and IAFM
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Copyright © 2011 FIAT-IFTA
FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Report
2010
1 Dear reader
Page 2
Mr. Henry J. Keizer - Chairman FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Steering Committee
2 Shanghai Funeral Museum
Page 4
The Shanghai Funeral Culture Research Institute
3 Kuratorium Deutsche Bestattungskultur Page 8
Mrs. Dr. Kerstin Gernig
4 Novosibirsk Museum of Funeral Culture
Page 12
Mr. Sergey Yakushin
5 ALPAR
Page 16
Mrs. Teresa Saavedra
6 Shanghai Humanism Memorial Museum
Page 20
Mr.Wang Jisheng
7 Musée Funéraire National Paris
Page 26
Mr. Pascal Moreaux - Mrs. Muriel Perrin-Ghys
8 Dia de Muertos Mexico
Page 30
Mrs. Teresa Saavedra
9 ALPAR Resolution
Page 34
Resolution August 2010
10 Charter
Page 35
Charter of Global Funeral Heritage
11 Constitution
Page 36
International Association of Funeral Museums
12 Survey
Page 45
Funeral Museums and Collections
Table of Content
FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Report
2010
FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Report
2010
This report is presented to you by the members of the FIAT IFTA Heritage Committee.
The Committee was formed on the initiative of FIAT IFTA in order to draw attention to the many
impressive traditions, buildings and artifacts that still exist in relation to death, funerals and be
reavement. We are of the opinion that they are worth to be preserved for future generations.
In conjunction with the forming of the committee, the International Association of Funeral Mu
seums (IAFM) was founded. The many funeral museums and collections in the world can play
an important role in the preservation, explanation and scientific studies, concerning the topic of
funeral heritage.
We hope that this report will raise the interest of those active in the funeral profession, but also in
governmental and non governmental organizations, charged with world wide heritage conserva
tion.
In any case, we hope that you will enjoy reading this report and the committee would be happy to
answer your questions or listen to your comments and advise.
Henry J. Keizer,
Chairman FIAT IFTA Heritage Steering Committee
President IAFM
Dear reader,
FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Report
2010
SHANGHAI
The plaque “Boundless Merit” by the famous calligrapher Mr Yu You Ren made in 1946
for Lian Yi Shanghuang ornates the main hall of the Shanghai Funeral Museum located
in the Long Hua Funeral Facilities Home.. By Chinese traditional conception, persons
working in the funeral profession are “doing things right”. Mr. Yu You Ren’s inscription
is the perfect expression for this conception. During the “cultural revolution” cemeter
ies were smashed and tombstones were destroyed; fortunately the this plaque was kept
intact except Mr. Yu You Ren’s name was erased.
The plaque
“Boundless Merit”
The Shanghai Funeral Museum covers 1.500
square metes and is located on the fith floor of
the Longhua Funeral Home. The main purpose
of the staff of the museum is to preserve the
Chinese Funeral Cultural History and to main
tain a collection divided in five parts:
• Traditional funeral and burial custom
• History of the funeral industry
• Evolution of the funeral equipment and the rise and
decline of the major funeral homes
• Transformation of the funeral industry and the
reform of funeral customs
• Inventory of the new era, people orientated funeral
services.
Traditional Funeral and Burial Custom
At the ruins of Fu Quan Shan, Qingpu county
of Shanghai ancient relics were found dating
back to 6000 or 7000 years ago of tombs of the
Songze Culture, the Liangzhu Culture and the
Ma Jiabang Culture. The core of the Chinese
funeral culture has always been: “reverence
to the ancestors – handle funeral with great
care - recall the ancestors that earth is the
best shelter for the deceased.” Funerals at first
were handled by family members or relatives.
Gradually funerals were run by professional
firms and groups such as the funeral material
rental shops and “Hong Bai Gang”.
There were always a variety of reverence and
worship activities. However strongly influenced
by thousand years of self-sufficient and closed
agricultural economy. People tended to follow
the old funeral custom.
FUNERAL MUSEUM
FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Report
2010
The plaque “Boundless Merit” by the famous
calligrapher Mr Yu You Renat at The Shanghai
Funeral Museum
FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Report
2010
Traditional Nam Mu Coffin at The Shanghai
Funeral Museum
FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Report
2010
Traditional Nam Mu
Coffin
During the years of Kangxi Dynasty, the ban
on sea voyage was lifted. Businessmen came
to Shanghai from many parts of the country,
Shanghai became a city full of immigrants and
they brought theirs own customs. They also
set up funeral facilities like coffin deposition
rooms and mourning halls. However it was
still a traditional agricultural society and the
funeral facilities were only used for immigrant
families and for charitable purposes
Hong Bai Gang
Hong Bai Gang was an amateur profession to
arrange rituals for marriages and funeral
activities. They planned a funeral procession
and performed the funeral rituals for the be
reaved. According to the custom, the number
of persons carrying the coffin was from four to
sixteen depending on the deceased social status.
Sixteen bearers, also called dragon head bearers
( for the Chinese people dragon is a symbol for
auspicious), was the highest treatment a citizen
without official title can get. While going to
the cemetery, the bearer team wore special
uniforms and the deceased family wore linen
clothes holding flags in their hands.
The Shanghai Funeral Culture Research Institute
FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Report
2010
FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Report
2010
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am glad to welcome you here in Düsseldorf during the fair
BEFA 2010 as one of the Board members of FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Steering Com
mittee. Due to the fact that we have our first meeting in Germany I would like to intro
duce very briefly my organization “Kuratorium Deutsche Bestattungskultur”.
Kuratorium Deutsche Bestattungskultur
organizes interdisciplinary conferences in
order to promote the relevant topics in funeral
culture. I like the idea of the German philoso
pher Walter Benjamin that we become aware at
the moment of loss. Currently we are losing fu
neral traditions and rituals in a dramatic way. I
think that’s one of the reasons why we are here
together. With the conference I try to initi
ate discussions about what is changing in the
funeral culture. In 2003 for instance I organ
ized a conference about the current changes
of funeral culture in Germany. The results are
published in the conference book “Bestattung
skultur – Zukunft gestalten”.
In 2005 I organized a conference about funeral
music because I noticed that we have a large
variety of compositions on the one hand and
an enormous decrease in the choice of music
pieces for the funeral service on the other.
In cooperation with the Robert Schumann
university of music here in Düsseldorf we
published six CDs with funeral music: “Musica
et Memoria – Funeral music through the cen
turies” The booklet is translated into English.
The titles are: Gentle Death, Beautiful Death,
Lamentable Death, Marching Death, Uncom
promising Death, Transfigured Death.
In 2006 I organized an exposition in coopera
tion with the funeral museum in Kassel about
all the professions related to death which have
been represented in the history of art. And I
published a book about the development of
the funeral sector from the earliest beginning
KURATORIUM
DEUTSCHE
BESTATTUNGSKULTUR
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till this day: “Todesmutig – Das siebte Werk
der Barmherzigkeit”. It’s fascinating to see
that since the Middle Ages the burial has been
considered the 7th work of mercy and that in
the meantime an undertaker - or in modern
words - a funeral director was considered more
or less an outlaw.
In 2007 I initiated a conference about the
change of mentalities related to death and
dying expressed by a discussion which is less
focused on values than on prices. We have
cemeteries for pets in Germany for example
which sometimes seem much more cultivated
than the gravesites for human beings. The
contributions and discussions are published as
well: “Verarmt, verscharrt, vergessen?”.
Last year I organized a competition and
conference about marketing in the funeral
sector. We discussed the possibilities and the
limits of the appropriate way to advertise
in this sensitive sector. Slogans like “Which
kind of music is played when you pass away?”,
“Rented a house, leased a car, bought a coffin –
did you already think about it?”, “What do you
think about the
last funeral speech?” are quite provocative.
But we wanted to figure out what young de
signers will create when they get the chance to
design a poster for a funeral cost insurance.
We received a total of 330 posters in this
competition. The results of the winners and of
the participants are published in the book “Wer
nicht wirbt, stirbt – Werbung in der Bestat
tungsbranche”. And I can assure you you will
laugh yourself to death, assuming that you
understand German. This year I
organized the exhibition “Melancholy and
beauty” about mourning dresses in cooperation
with the newly created Museum of World Fu
neral Culture in Novosibirsk and the German
Textile Museum in Krefeld .
The marvelous book about mourning dresses
and mourning jewelry in art history
“Schwermut und Schönheit – Als die Men
schen Trauer trugen” will accompany the
exhibition.
Everybody here is not only interested in funeral
culture but also in the privileged situation to
organize interesting conferences, exhibitions
or other events. My hope is that we will share
our ideas in the future in order to make them
travel around the world.
Mrs. Dr. Kerstin Gernig,
Kuratorium Deutsche Bestattungskultur, Düsseldorf
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Cover photo of book: Schwermut und
Schönheit - Als die Menschen Trauer trugen
by Natascha N. Hoefer
NOVOSIBIRSK
MUSEUM
OF FUNERAL CULTURE
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The concept of this exhibition was suggested by the Russian designer Gleb He pre
sented two mourning dresses made according to the fashion traditions of the 19th
century. Then it was decided to extend the research of mourning etiquette in clothing.
We agreed to create a unique collection of mourning dresses in Russia and to select the
exhibition BEFA-2010 as the first place for demonstration of this collection. Our Ger
man partners undertook to publish a book devoted to the history of mourning clothing.
Fortunately, almost three dozens of costume
designers took an interest in the German-Rus
sian project and made 175 mourning dresses
reflecting the mourning culture since the 13th
century. We present the 79 most interesting
dresses characteristic for the 19th century to
your judgment and for your aesthetic enjoy
ment.
A lot of antique etchings, pictures, photographs
of the 19th century and even grave sculptures
of lamenting women in European cemeteries
were used as sources for models of mourning
dresses demonstrated in the exhibition.
We cannot but agree with Lou Taylor,
researcher of the European mourning
clothing, who says that the clothing expresses
the slightest nuances of the society and reflects
not only aesthetic sense of people, but also
their social status and attitude to the society
and its social and cultural standards.
The clothing also reflected political
revolutions, as well as evolution of the art.
There is no doubt that the history of mourning
dress facilitates better understanding of
progressive changes in the society and
perception of national hopes and aspirations.
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Mourning dresses were certainly the key
element of the funeral procession.
Novosibirsk Museum of World Funeral Culture
is a historic overview of funeral traditions and
burials of famous people from all over the
world. There are more than 1500 engravings
of XIX century depicting death and mourning,
about one thousand paintings, sculptures, 60
mourning dresses of XIX century – alltogether
several thousand of authentic historic funeral
items from many parts of the world.
It is the only museum of the kind in Russia,
founded by private investors. 2 buildings with
1600 sq.m. of total area are under construction
to accommodate the Museum. The artifacts
are temporarily placed in the building of the
Novosibirsk Crematorium where excursions
take place weekly.
Novosibirsk Museum of World Funeral Culture
carries out research on describing and ana
lyzing national funeral traditions of Russia,
Europe, Asia, North and Latin America and
Arabian East. Special attention is dedicated to
the research of funeral symbols.
Novosibirsk Museum in cooperation with
Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg
department of “Institute of Human” and As
sociation of Institutes of Higher Education of
Russia, has organized two conferences “Philos
ophy of Death”, different scientific conferences
and seminars are in perspective.
Showpieces are mainly bought in antique shops
and markets in Europe, America, Russia and
China. Various showpieces for the museum are
donated by funeral homes and individual col
lectors in various countries.
Mr. Sergey Yakushin
President of the Necropolis Exhibition, Moscow
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It is an honor for ALPAR the Latin American Association of Cemeteries and Funeral
Services to be able to participate in this forum. It is my hope that by sharing our con
cerns and point of view, we might better set forth our solid commitment to work and
cooperate with this Committee to our full and most proactive capacity.
We share a common bond, as is the case of
most of the world’s civilizations, an acute
awareness of our mortality, and thus
contemplation about the lives we lead and the
impact we will leave behind. Because of this
component of inextricability of human life and
death, there is undoubtedly no other aspect
in human culture, so reticent to change like
our attitudes and beliefs regarding death. But
even these staunchly held beliefs must undergo
thoughtful examination, especially in the con
text of the dynamic and rapid changing nature
of our globalized world.
Therefore, if we are to consider the sites, the
rituals and all expressions that should follow
in our culture with death, we need a clear and
constant understanding of our past, in order
to fully comprehend the evolution of this
phenomenon through the prism of diversity of
culture , religion and ethnicity. For this
purpose, allow me to bring a little bit of
context for the case of Latin America. Our
continent lies beneath strong undercurrents of
cultures so dissimilar, that some might argue
still are unresolved vestiges of our colonial past
A strong influence of civilizations prior to
ALPAR
THE LATIN AMERICAN
ASSOCIATION OF CEMETERIES AND
FUNERAL SERVICES
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Tubma de Mitre - Cementerio de la
Recoleta - Buenos Aires - Argentina
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Spanish and Portuguese Conquest; Mayans,
Incas a myriad of tribes from Amazonia, etc.
– have left the people of the Americas a very
complex fabric of an intertwined belief system.
Social and behavioral perceptions deeply
blended with not only the religious beliefs
brought by the colonizers, but those remaining
from these millenary cultures and more recently
all thrown in the mix with modernity.
The spectrum of practices regarding the rituals
of death is broad: from the “pagan” if you will,
like the royal mummifications in the
ceremonies of Templo del Sol, Peru – to the
offerings to deities - to cemeteries in churches,
the “ad sanctos” model like the church of San
Francisco in Quito, Ecuador, considered the
largest colonial cemetery of South America.
When Spain and its colonies followed the
decision (Carlos III de Borbon) to create
“extramural” cemeteries (cemeterios extra
muros) in 1787, well before the first crie for In
dependence in the continent, Latin American
evolved to burial grounds exemplified by those
like the Cemetery of La Habana in Cuba, or
what is the oldest and still preserved Cemetery
of 1802 the Presbitero Maestro in Lima, Peru.
Knowledge and technology transfer in the turn
of the 19th century, and the close encounter
with pathogens of the French or English forced
funeral sites to incorporate the sanitary issue,
favoring the creation of funeral grounds with
distinct characteristics; beyond the city limits,
surrounded by hills, lakes and trees in close
resemblance to city squares, separating the city
of the living and the dead.
This also had an early impact in our societies
with Independence leaders like Bolivar and
O’Higgins creating, what we understand today
as, “Cementerios Generales” or public
cemeteries; where burials were held for
catholic and non-catholic like the 1791
Cementerio General of Bogota Colombia or
Cementerio General of Santiago in Chile.
During the years of the industrial revolution
these resting places flourished with ornaments,
sculptures, bronze and marble monuments,
allowing the growth of new commercial
circuits in Latin America, transforming coffee,
sugar, cacao, silver and other native products
into the stone and bronze of eternity.
Pieces came from international firms like Mac
Farlane & Company from Glasgow, Pignone
from Italy or Mott Iron Works from New York
giving our cemeteries, squares and theatres the
same ambiance and grandeur of other cities
around the world.
Examples of this beauty and craftsmanship
can be found in the Cemetery of Valencia in
Venezuela, the San Juan Bautista Cemetery in
Manaus, Brazil or the Guanajuato Theatre in
Mexico.
Public cemeteries throughout the continent
were mainly considered to be of the purview
and responsability of local government; with
some exceptions like Colombia, where burial
grounds were considered a responsibility of the
Catholic Church.
Nevertheless, these public cemeteries were
surrounded by people and institutions. The
major culprit of this unplanned area of our
cities can be blamed on the lack of proper
city planning, administrative difficulties and
poor economic structures in developing Latin
American nations. Today we can observe that
most of these burial grounds are either saturat
ed, neglected and more importantly, represent
a serious concern and burden to local govern
ments.
Taking this scenario in consideration, today
public cemeteries remain an important reality
to pop Latin American culture. In recent years