title: Secularizing funerary culture in nineteenth-century Belgium: A product of political and religious controversy.
abstract: Modern historiography of collective attitudes, practices, and conflicts surrounding death often focuses on the institutional history of cemeteries and nonreligious funerals in 19th-century France. Institutional and cultural discussions concerning funerals and cemeteries also divided nineteenth-century Belgium. This article explores emblematic civil burials and the secularization of cemeteries in major Belgian cities. The article distinguishes different dimensions of the secularization of death and highlights the particular nature of Belgian funerary conflicts and burial reform within a broader European context.
authors.affiliation: a Department of History , Vrije Universiteit Brussel , Brussels , Belgium.|b Section Research , Liberaal Archief , Ghent , Belgium.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Spiegeleer
authors.affiliation: a Department of History , Vrije Universiteit Brussel , Brussels , Belgium.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tyssens
mesh_terms: D001293:Attitude to Death; D001530:Belgium; D002048:Burial / Q000266:history* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D012067:Religion / Q000266:history*; D035621:Secularism / Q000266:history*