Necropolis Cristobal Colon
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. It is literally 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. Such a variety of styles.
The Chapel of Repose in the centre of the cemetery is larger than many churches in England.
There were several pyramid shaped mausoleums
Some family mausoleums were very ornate, such as this one on the left. Note the broken column is a very traditional symbol of death.
Many of the memorials were group ones, such as this one on the left, dedicated to the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
The one on the right is for firemen.
The strange looking one below is a metallic memorial on stilts commemorating those who lost their lives in the March 13 1957 attack on the Presidential Palace (now the Museo de la Revolucion)
La Milagrosa. 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 in 1901 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. Note the number of fresh flowers round the grave.
Somehow Michelangelo’s Pieta is not out of place among the other OTT monuments.
I like the listening angel.
Of course, I had to pay my respects to my boyhood hero, Jose Raul Capablanca, World Chess Champion 1921-27 & diplomat for Cuba, who died in 1942.
