Dutch Cemetery together with all tombs & monuments contained therein

About this monument

Bounded by a high wall the cemetery (generally known as Gorostan) has two parts, one older having graves of Dutch nationals and the other, still in use, by the British and native Christians. Only the Dutch Cemetery is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. The Dutch Governor Tillefert shifted the old Dutch burial ground from the Fort area to the present site. From old records, it appears that the earliest grave at the site was that of Cornelius Jonge. The extant graves, one hundred and sixteen in number, had been in various stages of preservation before these were recently restored. Among the graves that have not yet been lost, the earliest is a huge obelisk raised in 1766 over the mortal remains of Captain Lucas Jurrian Zuydland, who was the Chief of Staff of the Dutch Navy. The other grave of the same year is of Christofer Maurtis Doeve. The tombs include among others the grave of Daniel Anthony Overbeck, the Dutch Governor of Chinsura, who stayed at the town even after it was handed over to the British authority in 1825. He died in 1840and interned in a sarcophagus-type tomb.

Site plan

Site plan from the ASI Inventory of Monuments and Sites of National Importance, Vol. VII Part IV, Kolkata Circle (2015).

Photographs