Mursko Sredisce Offers Flat Graves for 2,500 Euros
A public utility in Croatia's Mursko Sredisce now offers a cheaper grave with a flat plaque in the grass instead of a costly headstone. Three of the four plots on offer sold on day one.
Burial costs are climbing across the region, and in Serbia too families are increasingly looking for a cheaper way to lay loved ones to rest. Neighboring Croatia now has an unusual answer to that problem. In the northernmost Croatian town, Mursko Sredisce, the public utility company MURS EKOM has started offering graves in an “American style,” without a classic headstone, and the response was immediate.
Instead of an expensive stone monument, the new type of plot comes with only a flat plaque set into the grass, while the area around it stays a green surface maintained by the utility company. The burial itself remains the same, only the look and the upkeep of the plot change.
The price difference is significant. A standard plot in Mursko Sredisce costs around 5,000 euros, while a headstone in the new style costs 2,000 euros, or 2,500 euros together with the plot itself. Until September 30, 2026, an additional 10 percent discount applies for the first buyers, bringing the price down to 2,250 euros.
Mursko Sredisce Mayor Drazen Srpak described both the scale and the pace of sales to Croatian media, as reported by Dalmacija Danas:
“A standard grave plot costs around 5,000 euros, while the price of this kind of headstone is only 2,000 euros, and with the plot included it’s 2,500 euros total. On top of that, everything is ready for burial. So far we’ve made four such headstones to see what the interest would be like. People started reaching out on the very first day we announced it, and we sold three plots right away. Now we’re planning to build an entire row of these headstones, 14 in total.”
The town has set up four such plots so far, and three were sold the same day the offer was announced. The next step is a full row of 14 headstones in the same style, on the strip of land between the funeral house and the urn wall, which until now had been an empty patch of grass with no real purpose, regularly mowed but otherwise unused.
Alongside this option, Mursko Sredisce also offers a black marble urn wall, where a single niche costs 2,000 euros and holds up to four urns.
Srpak says he brought the idea for flat plaques set in grass from a cemetery in nearby Cakovec, where he saw similar headstones. On the decision to put the empty space to use this way, the mayor added:
“I know a lot of people like big headstones, but the size of a monument doesn’t have to match how much you grieve for someone.”
A smaller plot, according to Srpak, doesn’t mean less care for the deceased. Families who choose this type of burial, the mayor says, only need to come and light a candle and put flowers in a vase, while the utility company takes care of the grass around the plaque.
The introduction of a cheaper type of grave is also a response to a problem affecting nearly every Croatian town: a shortage of cemetery space. At the cemetery in Mursko Sredisce, Srpak says, there is room for new burials for only about three more years. The town has therefore already launched an expansion plan, buying up a plot of land next to the existing cemetery.
“We’ve launched a cemetery expansion plan, and we’ve already exchanged one plot next to the cemetery with its owner, so we’ll get more space in that section,” Srpak said.
The pricing and burial model in Mursko Sredisce is becoming a solution other Croatian towns facing the same shortage of cemetery space are following as well, and the town says the full row of 14 headstones will be installed in the coming period.
