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A columbarium is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin columba and originally solely referred to compartmentalized housing for doves and pigeons, also called dovecotes. Wikipedia
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A single urn space can cost up to US$125,000 in Hong Kong.
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The Star
Hong Kong high-rise aims to become ‘village’ of the dead
Tuesday, 27 Jun 2023 12:39 PM MYT
Architect Ulrich Kirchhoff said his design was inspired by traditional Chinese graveyards, often perched on mountainsides. – AFP
HONG KONG (AFP): With its white marble foyer and lavish chandeliers, the 12-storey tower could be mistaken for one of Hong Kong’s newest hotels, but it offers a longer stay: a final resting place for thousands in one of the world’s most crowded cities.
Hong Kong’s 7.3 million residents share some of the most densely populated neighbourhoods on earth, and in the past, mourning families had to wait years to secure a spot for their loved ones’ ashes.
The Shan Sum columbarium opened last month with plans to eventually offer 23,000 niches for funeral urns, part of the government’s decade-long effort to bring in private companies to ease pressure on the deathcare sector.
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The sleek, modern building is the work of German architect Ulrich Kirchhoff, 52, who told AFP he tried to blend elements of nature into a high-density space to create a “neighbourhood village feel”.
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Kirchhoff said his design was inspired by traditional Chinese graveyards, which are often perched on mountainsides. His columbarium carried over those undulating lines, greenery and textures of hewn rock.
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Oct 9, 2018
“We Chinese want to flip everything, urn spaces and graves are no exception, just something to make money on”.
With 50,000 Hong Kongers estimated to die this year and only 855 new public urn spaces left, real estate is exorbitantly expensive not just for the living, but also for the dead.
A single urn space can cost up to US$125,000 and a burial plot, US$500,000. Watch the full episode of #CorrespondentsDiary here: https://cna.asia/2QvtXXg
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weehingthong 