The Cemetery Landscape as a Complex Value. Understanding, Documenting, and Enhancing a Liminal Cultural Heritage

Abstract

The cemetery landscape embodies a complex system of values in which spatial, symbolic, and cultural dimensions intertwine. Rooted in the etymological and anthropological origins of landscape as an act of delimitation and identity-building, the cemetery emerges as a sacred enclosure mediating between the world of the living and that of the dead. Its liminal nature reveals a threshold space where ritual, architecture, and memory construct a suspended condition capable of generating social and symbolic transformations. The architectural elements that shape it translate this symbolic value into recognizable forms, defining a landscape that is at once material and metaphysical. The growing interest in the cultural and landscape value of cemeteries highlights their nature as narrative devices, capable of making visible the historical and anthropological stratifications of places and of fostering forms of slow and reflective tourism.
Within this framework, digital documentation plays a fundamental role: combining survey data with tools that clarify their meaning and make interpretative choices explicit enables the creation of models that integrate the material dimension of cemeteries with their biographical, ritual, and identity-based values. The case study of the Monumental Cemetery of Perugia exemplifies this approach. Through an integrated methodology that combines 3D survey, community participation, and narrative interpretation, the research aims to construct a memory twin capable of enhancing knowledge, accessibility, and the cultural significance of this stratified funerary landscape.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.35.2025.21