LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Two months after his death, Michael Jackson is to buried on Thursday in a private sunset ceremony that will see the "King of Pop" laid to rest alongside a galaxy of Hollywood stars.
The tragic pop music icon, whose mysterious June 25 death was ruled a homicide by city officials last week, will be interred in an elaborate mausoleum at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the suburb of Glendale.
Only close family and friends of Jackson will be in attendance for the event, in stark contrast to the star-studded public memorial held at Los Angeles's Staples Center in July attended by 20,000 mourners.
Several streets surrounding the entrance to the cemetery in Glendale will be closed in an effort to keep fans at bay, police said.
Jackson is to be interred at a 7:00 pm (0200 GMT Friday) ceremony inside the cemetery's massive Great Mausoleum, an elaborate neo-classical building inspired by Genoa's famous Campo Santo.
Jackson's gold-plated casket is to be placed in a private section of the mausoleum that is also home to the final resting places of famous names from Hollywood's golden age such as Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Carole Lombard.
Forest Lawn, which opened in 1906, is also home to exact replicas of some of Michelangelo's greatest works, including "David," "La Pieta" and "Moses."
The cemetery also boasts a stunning recreation of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" in stained glass.
Other entertainment icons buried at Forest Lawn include Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn and Jimmy Stewart.
Although open to the public, the Forest Lawn Memorial Park is renowned for its strict privacy rules, and unlike many other Hollywood cemeteries does not provide maps of famous grave sites.
Scott Michaels, who runs the successful "Dearly Departed" tours of notorious Hollywood death locations, said officials at Forest Lawn guard celebrity graves "like the Dead Sea Scrolls."
"The Great Mausoleum where he is going is like the Holy Grail of grave hunters," Michaels told The Los Angeles Times.
"There are cameras all throughout it, and if you are just wandering about, they will find you and kick you out."
One of Jackson's brothers, Marlon, meanwhile revealed in an interview with a British newspaper that the singer's children -- Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11 and Prince Michael II, 7 -- would leave notes in their father's coffin.
Jackson said messages reading "Daddy we love you, we miss you," would be placed in the casket alongside the singer's trademark single white glove.
Glendale officials meanwhile have meanwhile discouraged anyone not invited to the service from trying to attend, noting that several streets around the sprawling 300-acre site will be closed to the public.
Ending weeks of feverish speculation, Los Angeles coroners said last week that Jackson's death was being treated as homicide and revealed the singer had a cocktail of six different drugs in his body when he died.
Ending several weeks of feverish speculation following Jackson's sudden death in Los Angeles on June 25, the county coroner's office issued a brief statement Friday ruling that the superstar's death was unlawful.
A statement said "acute intoxication" from the powerful anesthetic propofol was the primary cause of death although, Jackson, 50, had also suffered from the effects of other drugs in his system.
Propofol is used to induce unconsciousness in patients undergoing major surgery in hospital. Medical professionals say it should never be used by private individuals at home.
The coroner's announcement fueled speculation that authorities may charge Jackson's personal physician Conrad Murray in connection with the death. Cardiologist Murray was the last person to see Jackson alive.
Jackson, one of the most influential figures in pop music history whose four-decade career included the highest-selling album of all-time, "Thriller," had been preparing for a July concert comeback at the time of his death.
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