Cemetery
In 1954 Bergmans designed an extension for the public cemetery on the Heufstraat in Brunssum. The design was reminiscent of a medieval church.
The plant colours suggest that Bergmans was inspired by a gothic church with painted vaults and stained glass windows.
The ‘front court’ with a curved circular path was framed by rhododendrons and a see-through vault of birch. Beyond the entrance gate, the nave began with a broad central path, flanked by ‘columns’ of ascending flowering cherries.
Read further below
Between the pier arches, consisting of ornamental trees and flowering shrubs, lay the burial grounds. The choir featured a colourful roof of red and green leafy trees interwoven with Indian laburnum flowers. Behind the ‘choir fence’ of flowering shrubs lay the central cross, surrounded at the back by burial grounds. On the outskirts of the ‘church’, cheerful flowering shrubs created a ‘stained glass windows’ effect. From Bergmans’ correspondence with the Municipality it appears that the planting followed his design.
The cemetery’s lay-out, with a broad central path and a cross in the distance, are the only remaining relics of this green cathedral.
More cemeteries, designed by John Bergmans, mostly in Noord-Brabant and Limburg, but also in other regions in the Netherlands, can be found in Database TUiN.
