Montjuïc Cemetery

Montjuïc Cemetery, known in Catalan as Cementiri del Sud-oest or Cementiri de Montjuïc, is located on one of the rocky slopes of Montjuïc hill in Barcelona.

History

It was opened on 17 March 1883 by the city of Barcelona as its main cemetery, supplanting the older cemetery at Poblenou in the east. It now contains over one million burials and cremation ashes in 150,000 plots, niches and mausolea and is operated by Cementiris de Barcelona S.A.

The city became heavily industrialised during the 19th century and its economic growth led Barcelona becoming the centre of Catalonia and a major city of Spain. The growth in population led to an increased demand for burial facilities, and a location was chosen on the slopes of Montjuïc, away from the pressures of housing development. The steep slopes of the hillside give Montjuïc its special character, with winding paths and terraced niches looking seawards over the harbour.

The cemetery contains one Commonwealth war grave, British Army Private Charles Hill (d. 1941) of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders who died during World War II.

Monument design

The timing of the cemetery and its memorials coincided with several artistic and design movements; its early monuments are inspired by classic and Gothic styles, while those of the Fin de siècle exhibit the influence of the Art-Nouveau design movement. In Catalonia that style developed into Modernisme, as it was known in the Catalan language.

Notable interments

Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909), virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor

Victoria de los Ángeles (1923–2005), operatic lyric soprano and recitalist

Jacint Verdaguer (1845–1902) writer, regarded as one of the greatest poets of Catalan literature and a prominent literary figure of the Renaixença, a cultural revival movement of the late Romantic era

Francisco Ascaso (1901–1936), anarchist

Hans Beimler (1895–1936), active member of the German Communist Party and a deputy in the Reichstag

Joaquín Blume (1933–1959), gymnast

Francesc Cambó (1876–1947), politician, founder and leader of the autonomist party Lliga Regionalista

Josep Carner (1884–1970), poet, journalist, playwright and translator

Ramon Casas (1866–1932), artist

Ildefons Cerdà (1815–1876), architect who designed the 19th-century "extension" of Barcelona called the Eixample

Lluís Companys (1882–1940), President of Catalonia from 1934 and during the Spanish Civil War

Buenaventura Durruti (1896–1936), anarchist revolutionary in the Spanish Civil War

Antonio Escobar (1879–1940), Army general

Josep Lluís Facerías (1920–1957), politician

Jaume Ferran i Clua (1851–1929), microbiologist

Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia (1859–1909), anarchist pedagogue

Joan Gamper (1877–1930), Swiss football pioneer, versatile athlete and club president

Àngel Guimerà (1845–1924), writer

Francesc Layret (1880–1920), politician

Anselmo Lorenzo (1841–1914), politician and anarchist

Francesc Macià (1859–1933), First President of Catalonia and formerly an officer in the Spanish Army

Pascual Madoz (1806–1870), politician, statistician

Enriqueta Martí (1868–1913), Spanish child serial killer, kidnapper, and procuress of children

Ana María Matute (1925–2014), writer

Raquel Meller (1888–1962), diseuse, cuplé, and tonadilla singer and actress

Lluís Millet (1867–1941), composer, musician and co-founder of Orfeó Català

Joan Miró (1893–1983), artist

Federico Mompou (1893–1987), composer and pianist

Joan Salvat-Papasseit (1894–1924), poet

Ángel Pestaña (1886–1937), politician

Marcelo H. del Pilar (1850–1896), Filipino propagandist and writer. His remains were exhumed and returned to the Philippines on 3 December 1920.