The Abbey At Westview Cemetery

You drive past the graves and monuments for awhile and then you see this. Photo by me, November 2012.

Just to the west of Downtown off Martin Luther King Drive is Atlanta's largest cemetery, Westview. It is also the largest in the Southeast. Westview might not be as well known as Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery on the southeast side of the city but it is just as historic and as interesting. Westview which has among its 100,000 inhabitants just as many famous Atlanta names as Oakland does but perhaps the location on the southwest side of the city keeps it from being so widely visited. Here you find the graves of Henry W. Grady, Robert Woodruff, Asa Candler, Ivan Allen Jr., Joel Chandler Harris, Robert Shaw and William B. Harstfield (certainly that name rings a bell) to name a few. Even the location of the cemetery is historic as a portion of the Battle of Ezra Church during the American Civil War was fought here. The cemetery was established in 1884.

And you wind your way around this gigantic building and keep staring. November 2012.

My reason for visiting early last November was to see something that was added more recently in 1943, even though it appears it was built centuries before. I came to view the Abbey and Mausoleum. The building is one of the largest mausoleums in the world with space for over 11,000 entombments. The building is impressive from the outside and inside. This place had been on my list of places to see for three or four years and I finally crossed it off my list. When I got there I knew to expect something grand but I couldn't have expected to be so overwhelmed by that building. It was much more than I had expected it to be in person. I drove up to it, got out and didn't even know where to begin photographing it. I shot plenty of frames that day but I felt there was no way I could do it justice.

The motor court for the abbey and mausoleum. Photo by me, November 2012.

My second reaction was that I had had completely left Atlanta and arrived at a castle far away. It was as if I had come to a place where fairy tales were true and a damsel was in distress in the tower.

High up on the wall of the courtyard is this inscription.  There are just so many details in this building that could be overlooked. Photo by me, November 2012.

Two of the 27 stained glass windows. Photo by me, November 2012.

This wing of the building is what I would assume are the offices for the mausoleum. Photo by me, November 2012.

In the main building you enter a corridor from the courtyard and find a coffered ceiling with medallions and this beautiful metal light fixture. Photo by me, November 2012.

The small but stunning chapel. Photo by me, November 2012.

One end of the chapel contains ornate wood panels with these paintings of religious iconography.  Photo by me, November 2012.

The cushions on the pews have seen better days. I like how the stained glass windows reflect on the floor and the pews. Photo by me, November 2012.

Look at the detailing around this doorway. You don't see this in buildings today. Photo by me, November 2012.

A balcony and a bridge with more incredible detailing. Photo by me, November 2012.

One of the stained glass windows. Photo by me, November 2012.

A bridge crosses on the second floor and more inscriptions on the wall. Photo by me, November 2012.

Marble everywhere and a reminder this is the final resting place for many people. Photo by me, November 2012.

Looking up a staircase you will see another stained glass window in the ceiling and the reflections it generates on the marble walls. Photo by me, November 2012.

Marble staircase. Photo by me, November 2012.

I didn't explore enough of the building to know if the tower is accessible to the public or not. Photo by me, November 2012.

Photo by me, November 2012.

Inside and outside and from top to bottom this building impresses and surprises visitors. Photo by me, November 2012.

This building is one I will now add to my 're-visit' list and hope to better capture how jaw dropping it is.