Wādī al-Salām or the ‘Valley of Peace’ is an Islamic cemetery, located in the Shia holy city of Najaf, Iraq. It is the largest cemetery in the world and covers 1,485.5 acres (6.01 km2; 2.32 sq mi) and contains tens of millions of bodies. It also attracts millions of pilgrims annually.
The cemetery is located near the shrine of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Sunni Caliph and the first Shia Imam. Thus, many Shi’ites in Iraq request that they be buried in this cemetery. As a result of improved transportation methods, Shi’ites from across the globe are (or seek to be) buried in the cemetery. However, burial at the cemetery “means being placed in one of the cemetery’s many catacombs.” According to an undertaker at the cemetery, each crypt can hold up to 50 bodies.
Due to the millions of graves, buried over more than 1400 years, it is virtually impossible to measure the graves. However, it is interesting to note that many seemed to be aligned with the Ali Shrine, which faces between Petra and Mecca.
GPS Location: 32.01501 44.302884
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By Sgt. Johnnie French - U.S. Department of Defense, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64103538
Several million people are buried in this graveyard, many in crypts holding multiple bodies.
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