On these two Galician cemeteries routes you will discover some unusual, beautiful and surprising sculptures and funerary monuments that are included in the European Cemeteries Route. A different sort of art tour for the rather more adventurous.
Pereiro Cemetery in Vigo
This is the largest cemetery in the city of Vigo and it was built in 1898. It has two central aisles and it is divided in perfectly aligned squares surrounded by different varieties of trees and plants. But what really stands out are the beautiful statues and gravestones that make this cemetery an outdoor museum. On one of the sides there is the Civil Cemetery which was designed to bury atheists, people from other religious believes or those who died by suicide. Today it is called The Garden of Memory.
San Amaro Cemetery in A Coruña
This cemetery with a view over the sea, was one of the first built in Spain and is part of the European Cemeteries Route. In 2017, National Geographic selected San Amaro as one of the most beautiful cemeteries in Spain. In the past, cemeteries were part of the parish and churchyards were used as burial sites until 1812, when new legislation banned this procedure. One curiosity about this cemetery is that there is a part that is not open to the public. In 1867, the British Consul in Galicia bought a plot of land in order to establish a private cemetery for British citizens. The consul himself is buried in this part of San Amaro among others and it’s considered British soil.
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