In 1654, plague decimated Oslo, claiming over fifteen hundred lives—roughly 40 percent of the city's population. Desperate for burial space, authorities opened Christ graveyard, which would later house generals, politicians, academics, and the sister of expressionist painter Edvard Munch. At the entrance stands Peststøtten, the plague marker, consecrated in October that year. Today it remains Oslo's oldest public monument. According to Atlas Obscura, the cemetery stayed active for nearly three centuries, serving burials well into the twentieth century.

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