| Novo Cemetery | |
|---|---|
_Jewish_Cemetery.jpg) The Novo Cemetery in 2017 | |
 | |
| Details | |
| Established | 1733 |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 51°31′26″N0°02′17″W / 51.524°N 0.038°W /51.524; -0.038 |
| Type | Sephardic Jewish |
| Designations | |
|---|---|
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | The Novo Cemetery |
| Designated | 11 April 2014 |
| Reference no. | 1416421 |
TheNovo Cemetery is aGrade II listed[1]Sephardic Jewish cemetery located within the grounds ofQueen Mary University of London inMile End in theLondon Borough of Tower Hamlets. Opened in 1733, it is one of only two exclusively Sephardic cemeteries left in England.
England's first Jewish cemetery, theVelho Cemetery, was built on a small plot of land in Mile End in 1657. As the nearby Jewish community grew in size the Velho began to fill up. By 1726, it was nearly full, so land for a second, larger Sephardi cemetery, the Novo Cemetery, was leased, with the first burials taking place in 1733.[1][2]
By 1895 the cemetery was almost full, and it was closed for burials for adults in 1905 and for children in 1918.Historic England added it to the register oflisted buildings in 2014, as a Grade II.[3]
One of the most notable people buried in the cemetery is the Rabbi and KabbalistShalom Buzaglo, also known as the "Mikdash Melech." He was born in Marrakesh, Morocco and raised in southern Morocco, which was then a kabbalistic center. He fled persecution by thesultan and settled in London, where he wrote and published numerous works onkabbalah, including the first systematic commentary on theZohar.
