Vestre Kirkegård was opened on 2 November 1870[3] to accommodate an urgent need for adequate burial places for the growing population of Copenhagen.

[4] Almost all the buildings in the grounds have been designed by Hans Jørgen Holm or Holger Jacobsen, who succeeded him as resident architect for the Copenhagen Burial Services.

The cemetery is noted for its scenery, offers a maze of dense groves, open lawns, winding paths, hedges, overgrown tombs, monuments, tree-lined avenues, ponds and other garden features.

[citation needed] The cemetery's grounds have a variety of trees with many rare species and is a haven to birds and small mammals.

[citation needed] Just inside the main entrance is Arne Bang's bronze statue En Falden ("A Fallen"), which was installed in 1942 to commemorate the Danish soldiers that were killed when Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany on 9 April 1940.

The surrounding garden spaces of the two axes, creating a Greek cross, are confined by tall yew hedges and have a grass surface.

Embedded in the lawns of the cross arms are narrow, rust coloured paths made of oxidized iron plates, flanked by rows by cherry trees.

[5] Among the notables interred at the cemetery are political and business leaders, philosophers, artists, and musicians: In Nordisk Foraar (1911, "Nordic Spring"), Johannes V. Jensen refers to Vestre Kirkegård as the fairest park in Copenhagen, "taller, more elegant than the city centre" (”Jeg gaar ud på Vestre Kirkegaard en Formiddag og finder mig til Rette./ Det er den smukkeste Park vi har, her er højere end inde i Byen, friere,/ og de unge Træer staar i Luftningen ude fra Søen og gror, svulmer af Frodighed”).