Some of my friends already consider me strange having the habit of reading obituaries. Just as well I don't, however, have a habit too visiting cemeteries, like a lady neighbour I had once in England. It was almost her main hobby. She also confessed that any new place she visited in any country, just about the first thing she wanted to see were the local cemeteries! I realize some of them are really very beautiful and rather artistic in the display of some pretty unusual or unique tombstones, but the atmosphere always seems to me a bit forlorn, sad and cold. I always insist not attending anybody's funerals either, not even my own!
The 2 monumental cemeteries of Barcelona offer guided tours on Sundays, gratis, for any group of people who wish to visit, even, surprisingly, as elements of tourism (with 6,734 foreign visitors in 2010, and 1,200 more than the year before). I have never been any, but have seen photos of some very wonderful and truly artistic work in some of the designs, both the graves and the tombstones, work of many renowned artists and sculptors; neoclassic as well as modernistic, even abstract, impressionistic or humorous.
I suppose it's also a form of unusual anthology reflecting the tastes and customs of the people, the living, their sentiment towards their departed loved ones, their relationships, and a glimpse into the life of the one resting in peace.
Left to right:
Panteon de August Urrutia, Montjuic.
Kiss of Death, Poblenou
Stone tablet of Cerda, with the reproduction of Eixample, Montjuic
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