Dutch Cemetery, Ernakulam / Kochi, Kerala.

Dutch Cemetery, Ernakulam / Kochi, Kerala.

Dutch Cemetery situated at Fort Kochi in Ernakulam was consecrated in 1724 and is today managed by the Church of South India.

The cemetery, built in the style of the Dutch architecture of the time, is surrounded by walls and the year 1724 is engraved on the entrance pillar. The epitaphs and tombs, numbering 104, carry the authentic records of hundreds of people of Dutch and British nationality. Many of the tombs are made of granite and red laterite and have no cross. There are big as well as small tombstones and the inscriptions on the epitaphs are in the old Dutch script.

In fact, the Dutch Cemetery has the distinction of being India’s oldest cemetery. Another claim to fame — within this cemetery lie the remains of the famous explorer, Vasco Da Gama.