Last week, the city council of Antwerp published a catalogue of graves in the famed Schoonselhof cemetery in the district of Hoboken, which are now available for occupancy on a temporary basis. For as little as €1,000, you could have a really impressive headstone among some very distinguished company.

The Schoonselhof cemetery is named after a nearby castle and was acquired by the city in 1911. After a 1784 decree by Emperor Jozef II putting a stop to burials in churchyards, cities and towns were obliged to bury their dead outside the centre, and the Hoboken site seemed perfect. The first person to be buried there was a German soldier, in 1914. Since then, the cemetery has established a Jewish section as well as memorials for more than 1,500 soldiers of the British Commonwealth. Among the other residents are Flemish writers Hendrik Conscience, Herman De Coninck, Willem Elsschot and Paul Van Ostaijen.

Many of the graves are now being made available for re-occupation, as the remains of previous tenants are moved to an ossuary. Antwerp has published a catalogue of what’s on offer, which is also online.

There are 64 graves available, some of them holding up to six coffins, or more in the case of cremation urns. The simplest is probably a polished granite slab and headstone with a vase at the foot: a one-time payment of €1,000 and €500 for each 25 years of use. In return, you have to commit to some simple maintenance.

Further up the scale, the choice is dizzying. All manner of decoration: reliefs of angels, crosses and the face of Christ; obelisks, sidestones and cornerstones, wreaths, doves, scrolls, swags and even photo frames. At the top of the range is a chapel for urns complete with neo-Classical facade and wrought-iron door.

The catalogue can be downloaded at www.antwerpen.be/overlijden (look for “grafmonumenten”).