Cuba Necropolis Cristobal Colon

- Necropolis Cristobal Colon

- Museo de la Revolucion

- Hotel Nacional

- La Habana Vieja

National Botanical Gardens

Cuba's main cemetery and the second largest in the world. Opened less than 150 years ago, there are as many people buried here as the current population of Havana. Literally it is a marble city of the dead.

I found it fascinating exploring the cemetery. Every type of funereal decoration you could imagine - and more. All cheek by jowl.

The Chapel of Repose in the centre of the cemetery is larger than many churches in England.

This place is a photographer's paradise (sorry!).

The monument below is to a group of firemen.

Some family mausoleums were very ornate, such as this one. The broken column is a very traditional symbol of death.

There were several pyramid shaped monuments.

Many of the memorials were group ones, such as this one on the left, dedicated to the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

I like the listening angel, below.

This metallic memorial on stilts commemorates those who lost their lives in the March 13 1957 attack on the Presidential Palace (now the Museo de la Revolucion)

There is a touching legend associated with this grave. For the sake of saving space, it is common in Cuba to exhume the remains after a few years, prior to storing elsewhere. When Amelia Goyri de la Hoz died in childbirth she was buried with her stillborn son at her feet. According to legend, when the grave was opened years later, her corpse was intact – a sign of holiness – and her son was nestled in her arms. Cuban mothers-to-be still venerate her grave.

Somehow Michelangelo's Pieta is not out of place among the other OTT monuments

Of course, I had to pay my respects to my boyhood hero, Raul Capablanca, World Chess Champion 1921-27.

One of the typical roads within the Cemetery.

Havana - Necropolis Cristobal Colon

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