Cemetery on the Dieweg

The Municipal Cemetery Dieweg (1867) replaced the parish cemeteries of St. Peter and St. Job, which became too small due to the population increase. The establishment of new cemeteries was a contentious issue between liberals and Catholics. The liberal Frère-Orban government decided in 1859 that 'church yards' should actually become 'cemeteries', owned by the municipality, independent from the Church. At the same time, there was also a hygienic concern. The cholera epidemic of 1866 accelerated the municipality's decision to buy this piece of land along the Dieweg and establish it as a cemetery.

Until 1958, residents of Ukkel could find their final resting place here. After that, the municipality only allowed burials in existing family graves. With two exceptions: in 1983 for the grave of cartoonist Hergé and in 1996 for that of Philippe Hirschhorn, a young violin virtuoso who passed away. Other notable figures with a memorial here include architects Paul Hankar and Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer, politician Charles Woeste, banking families Errera and Lambert (whose banks merged into Bank Brussels Lambert), and feminist Isabelle Gatti de Gamond. If not locals from Ukkel, they were often people who had a holiday home in rural Ukkel. The cemetery also served for Jews from across Brussels: their graves can primarily be found in the lower right corner of the grounds. It is worth taking some time to stroll around here.

The often overgrown tombstones form a kind of open-air museum of different architectural styles. What is special about this cemetery is that it is also protected as a landscape.
 

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