Page 110 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

108  HA V ANA AREA B Y AREA

9 Necrópolis de Colón

Havana’s monumental Columbus Cemetery is one of the
largest in the world, occupying an area of 56 ha (135 acres)
with 53,360 plots, where some two million people have
been buried. It was designed in the 1860s by the Spanish
architect Calixto de Loira, who based the layout on the
rigorously symmetrical plan of Roman military camps.
It was built between 1871 and 1886. Because of its
many sculptures and monuments in different styles –
from eclectic to the boldest expressions of contemporary
art – the Necrópolis has been proclaimed a national
monument. However, although it is full of fascinating
funerary art, it is still the cemetery for and of Havana’s
citizens. People come here to visit their loved ones or
simply to stroll around.

Mártires del Asalto al
Palacio Presidencial
This avant-garde memorial
(1982) honours the students
killed during their attack on
Batista’s Presidential Palace
in 1957.

KEY
. La Piedad de Rita
1 Tomb of the author Alejo Longa
Carpentier (1904–80)
This delicate marble bas-
2 Chapel of the Six Medical relief pietà adorns the black
Students marble tomb of the Aguilera
3 The Pantheon of Catalina Lasa family, which was built
(see p103) was commissioned by her in the 1950s.
second husband, Juan Pedro Baró,
who had her embalmed and
brought from Paris to Havana.
4 La Milagrosa
5 The Osario General, an ossuary
built in 1886, is one of the cemetery’s
oldest constructions.
6 Panteón de los Prelados
7 The Falla Bonet Pantheon is a
truncated grey granite pyramid with
a statue of Christ by the Spanish
sculptor Mariano Benlliure. . Main Entrance
8 Tomb of Generalissimo The statue in Carrara marble of the three theological virtues,
Máximo Gómez (see p48) Faith, Hope and Charity, was sculpted in 1904 by the Cuban
artist José Villalta de Saavedra in “Neo-Romantic” style.
For hotels and restaurants in this area see pp257–8 and pp271–2

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