Development and design

History

Neuer Südfriedhof combines 1970s landscape architecture with a much older Celtic earthwork.

On this page

Development of the grounds

  1. around 500 BC

    Celtic earthwork

    A square enclosure occupied what is now the eastern cemetery section. A grove of lime trees still makes its position legible.

  2. 1970s

    Landscape design

    Gottfried Hansjakob designed a varied park landscape of hills, a lake, meadows and ecological refuges.

  3. 1977

    Completion

    Neuer Südfriedhof was completed as a municipal main cemetery.

  4. today

    A 35.64-hectare cemetery landscape

    Approximately 9,800 burial plots, varied grave types and a modern funeral hall sit within the hilly grounds.

Landscape rather than a rigid axis

The terrain is the defining feature: Neuer Südfriedhof is Munich’s only hilly municipal cemetery. The lake, meadows and tree groups create changing views, while designated bird refuges sit alongside burial areas.

The funeral hall stands on a hill overlooking the lake. Topography is therefore not merely a backdrop but a central part of the design.

A much older trace in the east

The Celtic earthwork predates the cemetery by many centuries. The levelled enclosure is not reconstructed as a building; a grove of lime trees marks the historic location. The cemetery tour includes the earthwork and two ecological information boards.

Read the history on site

The official cemetery map places the lake, funeral hall, burial sections and Celtic earthwork in context. The interactive map uses the hall’s precisely mapped building object; no coordinate is inferred from the PDF.