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Few addresses boast quite so much star power as Highgate Cemetery. Even if its residents are, y’know, dead, where else can compete with a celeb list that features authors George Eliot and Douglas Adams, engineer Michael Faraday, singer George Michael, artist Lucian Freud and punk legend Malcolm McLaren?
One of Highgate’s other famous (dead) residents is Karl Marx, whose tomb sits on the cemetery’s east side and is a Grade I-listed site. And if you’ve always wanted to be buried next to one of the world’s most famous and influential philosophers (weird one for the bucket list, we know), now’s your chance.
Highgate Cemetery is selling burial spots close to Marx’s tomb for at least £25,000. Which certainly isn’t an insignificant sum, even if you are next to one of the cemetery’s most popular sights. A cremation spot in Highgate, for comparison, apparently costs just £5,000.
The new plots at Highgate are the result of an £18 million project to conserve and revamp the cemetery. The overall project will take seven years to complete and will also include work on the Grade I-listed Egyptian Avenue.
Chief executive of the cemetery Ian Dungavell said that new burials are needed to keep it a ‘living’ attraction.
‘What makes Highgate Cemetery so interesting is that it is living heritage, not just a relic,’ he said. ‘It is still a place where things are happening now, where people are buried, and where people come to remember them.’
Would Big Karl have approved of his name being used to sell burial plots for extortionate prices? Well, that isn’t really for us to say. Have a read of some of his work and take a wild guess.
In any case, Highgate Cemetery, as one of London’s ‘magnificent seven’ cemeteries, is still very much worth a visit. Check out Time Out’s Highgate Cemetery page for all the info you need about visiting.
Did you see that this iconic red London phone box could be yours for £15,000?
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