Capsula Mundi

After years of design and initiatives, the project that will reverse our way of conceiving today’s burial techniques, transforming cemeteries into forests, has finally been launched.

Capsula Mundi is a cultural and broad-based design project by Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel, which envisions a different approach to the way we think about death. It’s main objective is to promote green woods to substitute today’s coffins cemeteries: these will acquire a new look and, instead of the cold grey landscape we see today, they will grow into vibrant woodlands, sacred forests.

Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel, Capsula Mundi, 2003 — **Top:** Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel, Capsula Mundi. Photo Giacomo Bretzel, detail. **Left:** photo Francesco D'Angelo

The crowdfounding initiative for the first production will end on the 30th of June. Capsula Mundi is an egg-shaped pod, an ancient and perfect form, made of biodegradable material, where our departed loved ones are placed for burial. Ashes will be held in small Capsulas while bodies will be laid down in a fetal position in larger pods. The pod will then be buried as a seed in the earth. A tree, chosen in life by the deceased, will be planted on top of it and serve as a memorial for the departed and as a legacy for posterity and the future of our planet. Family and friends will continue to care for the tree as it grows.

Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel, Capsula Mundi. Photo Francesco D'Angelo

The funds, amounting to € 60,000, will be used to realize the industrial prototype of the capsule and the molds of lightweight plastic material to produce the first samples.