There are about 20,000 tombstones in the cemetery. A number go back to 1811. “It is an important place because there are many people from Meppel, and many well-known people from Meppel,” adds Marnix Barelds. For example, mayors are buried here or acquaintances such as Willem Brocades, the founder of a pharmacy whose succession has grown into an internationally operating factory in medicines and pharmaceutical products, and Gerhardus Bernardus Ogterop, the founder of Ogterop theatre.
“The culture should not be lost here,” he says. In addition, he calls it a beautiful place in Meppel. “If you walk through here, you imagine yourself in a park with beautifully mature trees and very nice vistas. So even a gloomy place such as a cemetery can be very beautiful.” Volunteer Okken has also discovered that beauty. “The peace around you. That’s so great. You see squirrels jumping over the graves. You just don’t believe what happens in nature.”