Photograph by Diego TernaĪmerican architecture critic Charles Jencks, who defined the movement in his 1977 book The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, viewed Rossi as one of the leading Postmodernists and regarded the cemetery as the Italian architect's most important project.Īt the centre of Rossi's design is a cube-shaped ossuary for housing remains and a conical tower that marks a communal grave. Ossuary cube viewed from the cemetery courtyard. Rossi once declared that "I cannot be Postmodern, as I have never been Modern," yet his cemetery for Modena displays the strong colouring, bold form and historically referential detailing that became synonymous with the movement. Postmodern architecture: San Cataldo Cemetery by Aldo Rossi Buildings with steel blue roofs enclose the cemetery.Photograph by Maria Lucia Lusetti and Paolo Tedeschi The warm-toned facade of the ossuary contrasts the cool blue roofs of the surrounding buildings.Benches are positioned around the base of the cemetery walls.Concrete trusses are left exposed across the roof structure for the pitched-roof buildings that enclose the courtyard.View from within the column-lined walkway.Regimented openings puncture the walls of the ossuary cube.Ossuary cube viewed from the cemetery courtyard.Terracotta-coloured rendering covers the walls of the ossuary cube.