Havana, Cuba

Egyptian Revival ~ Pyramids:  Just like the ones at Giza, but smaller. If you are buried in a pyramid, perhaps your soul is automatically elevated to the status of God. Nevertheless, the decision to be buried in a pagan-style tomb must have been controversial. Erected 1920. Cemeterio de Cristóbal Colón. [2014]

Havana, Cuba

Focus on Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón:  Here is the most popular grave in Colón Cemetery: the final resting place of Amelia Goyri, who died during childbirth in 1903. When the remains were to be exhumed, the bodies were found to be perfectly preserved and 'La Milagrosa' was holding her baby in her arms. Women from all over the world visit, pray, and perform the prescribed ritual at the grave site. They are then able to conceive. Thank you notes on marble slabs are displayed near the tomb. [2014]

Havana, Cuba

Focus on Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón:  Colón Cemetery looks very European. Not an inch of space is wasted. Most vaults are above ground with covering slabs that can be lifted off. Do you see the rectangular rings that enable opening and closing? A body would be laid to rest in the tomb and allowed to decompose for at least three years. Then, the tomb would be opened and the bones removed to the small vault at the head of the grave, permitting another body to be buried. That's one way of maximizing use of cemetery space. [2014]

Havana, Cuba

Focus on Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón:  Arabs may be buried here, but they are not Muslims. Lebanese and Syrian Christians dispersed all over the world in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The ethnic neighborhoods they formed in host cities became the ethnic neighborhoods of city cemeteries. See any sign of assimilation? [2014]

Havana, Cuba

Focus on Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón:  It looks familiar, doesn't it? That bat. It's on the firefighter's memorial in Colón cemetery. Who helped sponsor the memorial?  The Bacardi clan. You know them for their rum, which was an outgrowth of the Cuban sugar industry. What happened to all the wealth generated by sugar cane in pre-Castro Cuba? Some of it was invested in memorializing the dead. [2014]

Havana, Cuba

Focus on Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón:  Maybe not every cemetery deserves the appellation necropolis, but Colón Cemetery most assuredly does. With over 100,000 people buried here since 1878, it is truly a 'city of the dead' and one of Havana's crown jewels. [2014]