Бристольдегі Арнос Вейл бейіттері және Раджа Рам Мохан Рой ескерткіші

Cemetery in Bristol, England

Arnos Vale Cemetery (also written Arno's Vale Cemetery), in Arnos Vale, Bristol, England, was established in 1837. Its first burial was in 1839. The cemetery followed a joint stock model, funded by shareholders. It was laid out as an Arcadian landscape with buildings by Charles Underwood. Most of its area is listed, Grade II*, on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England. Arnos Vale cemetery is on the A4 road from Bristol to Bath, southeast of the city centre towards Brislington, about 1 mile (2 km) from Temple Meads railway station and about 2 mile (3 km) from Bristol bus station. The cemetery has a number of listed buildings and monuments, including the Grade II* listed Church of England mortuary chapel, Nonconformist mortuary chapel, entrance lodges and gates and the screen walls to main entrance.

The cemetery was designed by Charles Underwood in the style of a Greek Necropolis. Within a few years of its opening in 1837 it became the most fashionable place to be buried in Bristol. During the 20th century the cemetery fell into disrepair, and local groups began campaigning for its restoration. In 1987 the owner disclosed plans to exhume the bodies and develop the site for housing. Early in the 21st century, following a public campaign, the site was subject to a compulsory purchase order by Bristol City Council. The cemetery is undergoing restoration, however the Mortuary Chapel, Entrance Lodges and Gates and Nonconformist Mortuary Chapel remain on the English Heritage Heritage at Risk Register.

The reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy (22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) died at Bristol on 27 September 1833 and was first buried at Stapleton, but was reinterred in 1843 in the newly laid out Arnos Vale cemetery under the mausoleum designed by William Prinsep, which is a copy of an Indian tomb or chhatri (literally meaning umbrella). According to information available at the cemetery, a commemoration is held annually at this chhatri, attended by Unitarians, Bristol's Lord Mayor and the Indian High Commissioner plus Indians and British who remember with gratitude the works of the "Founder of Modern India". A previously missing (and unknown) miniature ivory portrait bust of Raja Ram Mohan Roy was unveiled at the annual commemoration of the death of the Indian religious, social, and educational reformer, and humanitarian, at Arnos Vale cemetery in Bristol, on 22 September 2013. Ram Mohan Roy challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. The ivory portrait bust of Ram Mohan Roy made in London in 1832 by the famous ivory carver Benjamin Cheverton (1796–1876), is based on a bust made around the same time by the gifted sculptor George Clarke (1796–1842). The bust is exceptional because Ram Mohan Roy gave sittings to Clarke (the only time he did this for a sculptor) to enable the bust to be modelled, and Cheverton copied the bust in ivory for George Clarke, who lent his model to Cheverton to enable this to be done. The process employed by Cheverton to make the copy means that it is identical with Clarke's bust, save that it is on a reduced scale. Clarke's bust is missing, and this small ivory bust is the finest three dimensional representation of Ram Mohan Roy that exists, since it reflects exactly what was observed when the great man sat to Clarke to have his bust modelled.