A 2-person grave at the new Bolderāja Cemetery, created in July 2022. The design was realised as a family grave with a conventional burial and an urn burial. The monuments were created as a coordinated ensemble in Swedish “Aurora” granite and black Swedish granite, with a candle decoration carved in the granite and wrought metal elements.
In every family there comes a time when we must say a final farewell to a loved one and lay them to rest in the earth. Most often it is parents who have lived a long life whose time has come to “go”. In our tradition, family graves are landscaped by placing a gravestone, shaping a grave frame and planting suitable plants. Even when people choose cremation, the urn is buried in the family grave, which is then designed according to their own taste and wishes.
Monuments for a brother and sister in a family grave at Pļavnieki Cemetery, in black Swedish granite with half-closed grave slabs; the grave was reconstructed in summer 2022. The grave was fitted out entirely anew with new monuments and grave slabs, and the border around the grave perimeter was replaced.
In recent years in Riga, the cemeteries that are open on a planned basis and where new burial plots are allocated, such as Jaunciems and Bolderāja Cemeteries, mostly allocate 1-person graves and, less often, 2-person graves, but these too can be landscaped tastefully and practically as family graves. These are mostly graves that have to be laid out entirely from scratch, where it is important to think through the durability of the materials, their practical use and the aesthetic message for future generations. It is important not to rush this, but to bring in a specialist who will find the most suitable solution in terms of the technical requirements, the client's budget and the desired message of remembrance.
Full reconstruction of a family grave – a new granite border around the perimeter, the plot levelled, geotextile and granite chippings laid, a new engraved grave border installed and the former monument restored on a new granite base. The grave was reconstructed in June 2022 at Bērzi Cemetery in Jelgava.
In the older cemeteries of Riga, and in most cemeteries in other towns and in the countryside, there are large family graves for 4–7 people and even larger. There is a tendency for people to bury the urn of a deceased loved one in the family grave of their relatives, where there have already been 4–5 or more burials, or to make a burial on top of an existing one, so that loved ones can rest side by side. Most of these are old family graves that were once laid out according to the traditions and means of their time. Today, when someone is laid to rest beside their family, these graves need reconstruction and restoration. Such major renovation work is usually ordered every 2–3 generations, on average every 40–70 years. This is the optimal interval for keeping the gravestones made in the past, incorporating them into the restored grave as a whole and giving the grave a new, dignified appearance that preserves the memory for another 2–3 generations.
Full grave reconstruction, including a new family monument. The grave was completely rebuilt in summer 2022 at Riga First Forest Cemetery. The landscaping was carried out in a classic style typical of the First Forest Cemetery: a classically shaped black granite monument was made, along with new solid grave borders and a grave perimeter in black Swedish granite.
So that the grave is well kept and has the right atmosphere when you visit, SoulGarden recommends landscaping family burial plots in a considered and comprehensive way. This means turning to a specialist who has a professional knowledge of material quality and technical possibilities and can offer a design that meets both the client's budget and aesthetic requirements. Our specialists recommend first creating a grave landscaping project – a visualisation sketch with dimensions and types of material. At the client's request, SoulGarden also produces a full visualisation – 2D, 3D and integration of the project in a special browser application. In this way the client gets a full picture of how the grave landscaping project they have ordered will look in reality.
Read more about the 3D projects SoulGarden offers here.
SoulGarden offers a full range of services both for completely new graves and for graves that need reconstruction and remodelling – from the idea to the finished result, in any cemetery in Latvia. Our specialists, who have worked in this field since 2002, can recommend the most suitable solution, listening carefully to each client's individual wishes, as reviews from our clients of different traditions, faiths and walks of life confirm.