I visited this WHS in July 2018 on a bright sunny morning. Like most I arrived to this WHS using the very convenient metro. It is just a short walk round the block, to the right hand side of the metro station exit of Skogskyrkogarden (thumbs up to meltwaterfalls for suggesting to make sure to keep track of the metro stops as this word's pronunciation is definitely not what most non-Swedish speaking people would expect!).

Skogskyrkogarden (or woodland cemetery) made it to the WH list as it is an outstanding example of a designed cultural landscape which blends the landscape itself and natural vegetation with architectural features. The 20th century creation of Apslund and Lewarentz established a new form of cemetery that is believed to have exerted a profound influence on cemetery design worldwide.

That said, does this mean that it possesses OUV? In my opinion, even though I enjoyed my visit, there are several other cemeteries around the world which are as unique and arguably possess OUV, for example the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan, Italy or the La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For a non-modern architecture affecionado like myself, I struggled to appreciate this cemetery's OUV and felt its inscription on the WH list was stretching the cultural landscape argument a bit too far.

In any case, the cemetery contains over 100,000 graves and more than 2000 funerals are held every year in the cemetery's 5 chapels. Needless to say, consideration and respect should be shown when visiting such a WHS. The UNESCO WHS plaque can be found just before the cemetery main entrance, just opposite the wall with columns and cascading water. This granite wall is 3.6km in length and surrounds the whole cemetery. After the entrance, I passed by the Woodland crematorium and the Faith, Hope and Holy Cross chapels just next to an average sized pond and a granite cross. Next I headed to the tranquil meditation grove and hill with trees of Almhojden.

After that, I walked the straight Seven Springs Way in the woodland cemetery towards the classical and temple-like Chapel of the Resurrection. After that I passed by the visitor centre (open from 11 to 4pm daily from May to September) which was the most striking modern architecture building in the cemetery and visited Greta Garbo's rather humble grave close to the Woodland chapel (Skogskapellet), the oldest and smallest chapel of the cemetery. Next I just went deeper and deeper into the woodland cemetery, past the Jewish cemetery, where there was a mixed section of Bahai, Muslim and Christian tombstones very close to each other. It was precisely there, where I struck gold and spotted a deer and a stag (photo) roaming freely among the tombstones and feeding off the cemetery lawn and flowers. I also spotted some tree birds such as woodpeckers, tits, finches, etc. as well as a red squirrel on my way back to the metro station.

The cemetery is open 24/7. If you like cycling it's an ideal place to do so and if you want to get a bit more information while visiting you can get the free audio guide from the visitor centre or use their free wifi.