Iffeldorf Memorial Garden
A cemetery where urns are interred in the middle of a flowering perennial bed – with a woodland section for tree burials and a place for children.
| Location | Iffeldorf, Weilheim-Schongau district |
| Size | Memorial garden with urn fields and an area for tree burials |
| Design | Design: Philipp Nützel · Site management: Bernhard Roth · Construction and maintenance: Fuchs baut Gärten · Client: Municipality of Iffeldorf · opened on 1 June 2024 |
| Implementation | Fuchs baut Gärten GmbH – Gärtner von Eden |
| Photography | Benjamin Klopp / frames for good |
| Award | In the Callwey book “Landschaftsarchitektur” 2026 |
“A cemetery is not a garden. It is a place where people weep, remember and eventually find calm again.”
A cemetery is not a garden. It is a place where people weep, remember and eventually find calm again. That was the brief for everything created here.
The municipality of Iffeldorf wanted to offer alternative forms of burial – the mayor had been asked about this for years. The result is a “memorial garden” with urn fields and urn graves, and a separate area for tree burials that can be extended if needed. Designed, built and maintained by us.
The large perennial bed
The memorial garden is not a field of graves with a flower bed next to it – it is a flower bed. Urns are interred in the middle of lush perennial planting that blooms from June into October: coneflower, helenium, sage, grasses. A winding path leads through it, with benches, trees and granite blocks inviting you to linger.
The names are not on gravestones but on small bronze leaves attached to stelae of pale natural stone. A leaf is added whenever someone joins them. It is unobtrusive yet visible – and it turns a row of graves into a shared planting.
The woodland section
If you prefer shade and stillness, you will find the second area: tree burials among old trees. No lawn, no gravel – forest floor, ferns and shade perennials. Two very different places in one cemetery, so that people can choose what suits them.
The Angels’ Grave
This cemetery has a place for children who died too soon. A natural stone stele, a golden butterfly, golden stars and a verse from the Gospel of Mark: “And Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them.” No name, but a shared place.
To us, this was the most important part of the whole project. We will say no more about it.
During the works, the main path through the cemetery was also renovated and the hedges were cut back hard. The new area was inaugurated on 1 June 2024 – in constant rain, so the ceremony took place in the funeral hall; it was blessed jointly by the Catholic and Protestant churches. By then, the mayor had reportedly received “only positive feedback” (Merkur, 3 June 2024).
The cemetery, together with the town hall square, appears in the Callwey book Landschaftsarchitektur 2026. We continue to maintain the site – for a perennial bed in which urns are interred, that is no minor matter. What else we do for municipalities can be found under Urban green spaces and Natural outdoor swimming pool for municipalities.
Photos: Benjamin Klopp / frames for good · In the Callwey book “Landschaftsarchitektur” 2026
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