The musical gravestones of London
A famous clown is remembered in a London graveyard where visitors are encouraged to dance on the graves.
A small park off Pentonville Road near King's Cross was once the graveyard of the St James Church. London's famous clown Joseph Grimaldi was buried here, and later clowns used to congregate at the church. Grimaldi, who lived from 1778 to 1837, is considered the father of modern clowning, having introduced many of its now traditional characteristics.
The St James became known as the clowns' church, and for many years hosted an annual clowns' service. However, in the 1950s, the church leaders cleared out the statuette of Grimaldi and photos of leading clowns, complaining that they made the church porch look 'like the entrance to a picture palace'.
The clowns moved to a church in Dalston. Meanwhile St James closed in 1978 and was demolished six years later. The graveyard was re-purposed as a small park - the Joseph Grimaldi Park - with all the gravestones moved to the sides apart from the monument to the famous clown.
Grimaldi's grave remains a pilgrimage site for modern clowns and, on any given visit, visitors may find streamers, balloons, and other celebratory leftovers attached to the fence around it. And every year on 31st May, the anniversary of Grimaldi's death, clowns gather around his gravestone to celebrate the pioneer of their stagecraft. They perform a few tricks and japes and finish the performance with the laying of a wreath.
In 2010 the park had a revamp and an artistic installation was commissioned to honour Grimaldi, and Charles Dibdin, a British musician who died in 1814.
The title of the work is “An Invitation to Dance on the Grave…”
Two coffin-shaped inlays of bronze, designed by artist Henry Krokatsis, make sounds when someone dances upon them. According to a press release from the time, it is actually possible to play the song “Hot Codlins,” which Grimaldi himself made famous.
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