LONDON, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Squirrels run between sprawling hundred-year-old tombs overcome with ivy and moss. The Highgate Cemetery in north London is like a massive time machine which takes visitors back to Victorian days.
A vast majority of visitors come to see the tomb of Karl Marx, the famous philosopher and revolutionist who is buried at the east part of Highgate.
This Saturday marks the 200th birth anniversary of Marx who settled in London in 1849 and remained in the city until his death in 1883.
Hundreds of daily visitors come from all over the world, with most of them from China, Germany, east European countries and Britain.
It costs 4 pounds (5.4 U.S. dollars) to visit Highgate as the gravesite, which is now run by a charity rather than financed by the government and costs about 1,000 pounds a day to maintain.
"More visitors are expected to come on Saturday," said a worker tending to Marx's grave "We are laying new marble slabs for the anniversary day."
Flower bouquets and candles could be seen under the 2-meter bust of Marx in bronze set on a marble pedestal. The tomb commemorates the burial sites of Marx, of his wife and other members of his family.
Originally buried in a different part of the Eastern cemetery, the bodies were disinterred and reburied at their present location in 1954.
Visitors took pictures in front of the tomb, reading quotes from Marx's works inscribed in the pedestal including "Workers of all lands unite" and "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it."
Hans Weihe, a Norwegian associate professor at Lillehammer University College was visiting Highgate with his wife during their stay in London.
"Although Marx is perceived differently throughout the history and the world, you must know him or you cannot fully understand history," he said, "His thoughts are still important among academics in a country like Norway which has been heavily influenced by the social democratic movement."
A South Korean professor who declined to give his name told Xinhua that although the teaching of Marx's thoughts is banned in his country's universities, he believes the man "answered the questions of his time."
"I like his words on the liberation of human beings," he said. "But we should treat Marx as a human being, not a god."
Marx's 200th birthday comes at a time when many contemplate communism versus capitalism. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the global financial crisis, the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.