A land like Asturias, often misty, full of forests and melancholic landscapes, is bound to be linked to the mysterious, but also to the fantastical and gothic tone that emanates from its tombs. The Principality boasts many somber cemeteries that send shivers down your spine, others that astonish with their excellent medieval preservation or elegant 19th-century architecture, and some with such extraordinary locations that it's a pleasure to die in them . This post includes a list of the most unique :
1 Niembro Cemetery
2 Luarca Cemetery
3 Carriona Cemetery
4 San Salvador Cemetery
5 Ceares Cemetery
6 Indian cemetery of Santa María de Colombres
7 Bandujo Cemetery
8 San Martín Cemetery
9 Bulnes Cemetery
Niembro Cemetery
This cemetery in Llanes, next to the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, has been the setting for several feature films . Both the church and the cemetery date from the late 18th century and are located on a peninsula known as the Vau inlet , between the villages of Niembru and Barro (Llanes). Its stunning location, almost floating on the estuary that at high tide closes the cemetery walls, lends it a bucolic atmosphere. The crosses on the mausoleums are reflected in the water, creating a very special aura.
Luarca Cemetery
It's one of the most picturesque views of the Cantabrian coast . Perched on the cliff, overlooking the sea and the port of Luarca, stands one of Spain's most emblematic cemeteries. The sense of tranquility it evokes, combined with the beauty of the coastline, overcomes the fear of death, which is inextricably linked to its modernist tombs and mausoleums. It's located on the La Atalaya promontory , a blend of romantic promenade and coastal viewpoint where the horizon is breathtaking. A truly special place to visit loved ones, always surrounded by the stark whiteness of the walls and graves.
··· Who is buried in the Luarca cemetery?
Severo Ochoa and his wife Carmen are buried here . The Spanish biochemist, born in Luarca, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1959. He shared the prize with biochemist Arthur Kornberg for their discoveries concerning the mechanism of biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
So does Manuel Gil Parrondo, the best art director in this country —with two Oscars to his name. A distinguished native of Luarca who worked on such legendary films as Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, El Cid, and Spartacus. A man of cinema who saved the most sublime set design for last.
La Carriona Cemetery
This late 19th-century cemetery (considered by experts to be the third most important in the country for its rich ornamentation) is a veritable open-air museum within the city of Avilés . It is notable for its multitude of symbolic sculptures adorning the mausoleums, its Neo-Romanesque chapel, and hundreds of Baroque representations. The finest funerary sculpture in Spain is located here: the angel in the crypt of the Marchioness of San Juan de Nieva . This imposing winged angel, the work of Cipriano Folgueras, holds a trumpet to announce the end of times while pointing to the heavens with its other hand.
La Carriona Cemetery is included in the European Cemeteries Route , has its own interpretation center, and frequently organizes guided tours along two alternative routes: the "Art Space," focused on the elements of greatest aesthetic interest, and the "Place of Memory," a tour of the tombs of illustrious figures, among whom the Asturian writer Armando Palacio Valdés stands out. The most impressive pantheons and hypogea (up to three stories high) are located on the main street, opulent mausoleums such as those of the Marquis of Teverga, María Suárez and her family, the García Morán family, Bonifacio Heres, and the Counts of Peñalver.
Carriona Cemetery
With all due respect to those who rest there, and acknowledging the differences in pain and loss… Read more
San Salvador Cemetery
Covering 60.000 square meters , this cemetery, located on a hill outside Oviedo , contains some of the finest examples of 19th-century funerary architecture in Spain, mostly belonging to the bourgeoisie and aristocracy of the capital of the Principality of Asturias . The most outstanding monuments, crafted by master marble workers, date from the last quarter of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, coinciding with the economic expansion that enabled their construction. Also noteworthy are the two porticoes at the cemetery entrance and the Oviedo Mass Grave, associated with the cemetery, where Republicans who died during the Spanish Civil War are buried. The tomb of the writer Leopoldo Alas "Clarín" (April 25, 1852 – June 13, 1901) can also be found in San Salvador Cemetery.
Ceares Cemetery
This was the necropolis par excellence in Gijón during the 1876th century (although its origin dates back to XNUMX) and today it exceeds 30.000 graves. Its design was made by Cándido González with a pioneering design in terms of its planimetry. Several pantheons, niches and sculptures, as well as the Civil Cemetery (very well preserved), are included in the Historical-Artistic Heritage of the Principality of Asturias. The Chapel, built in 1894 with a design by Mariano Medarde, also stands out, with a storage room and autopsy in its side annexes.
Many famous people rest in Ceares: the painters Evaristo Valle, Nicanor Piñole and Orlando Pelayo, the architect Manuel del Busto or the politician José Cáveda, General Alvaro Suárez Valdés, the poet Eulalia de Llanos or the essayist Ernesto Winter.
Indian cemetery of Santa María de Colombres
Many Asturians who emigrated to America in the 19th and early 20th centuries made their fortunes, and upon returning to their homeland, they built grand mansions and palaces. The "Indianos" of Colombres transformed the town's appearance with these buildings, but they also left their mark on a small cemetery with striking mausoleums . The first one we encounter upon entering is perhaps the most eye-catching. It resembles a Roman temple, with its podium, columns, and pediment. It houses a chapel and an underground crypt. Very close by, the mausoleum of Don Manuel Ibáñez Posada, Count of Ribadedeva, with its Neo-Gothic style and its state of disrepair, has a completely ghostly appearance.
Bandujo Cemetery
Located at an altitude of 700 meters, the village of Bandujo (Banduxu), in Proaza , has preserved its medieval origins almost intact. Next to the church is a small cemetery that maintains an ancient custom: all burials must be in the ground, following a strict order of death . The graves belong to all the residents; there is no private ownership. There are 27 graves, and when someone dies, they are buried where the oldest deceased person is buried, and so on, rotating the plots . Furthermore, on All Saints' Day, families come to the cemetery with flowers they have grown in their gardens, especially chrysanthemums , and with dry, black soil, which they sift onto the graves. They draw geometric shapes that they then fill with flowers of different colors, like beads.
San Martín Cemetery
Near the parish church of San Martín in Salas stands a magnificent yew tree, thousands of years old and over 15 meters tall. This tree, listed as a Natural Monument, grows within the cemetery grounds and was possibly planted there in the 11th or 12th century. The extraordinary longevity of this species (already venerated by pre-Christian communities) symbolizes immortality and the transcendence of death. In the area where the yew now stands, there was once an ancient pre-Romanesque monastery, founded in the 8th or 9th century, around the time of the construction of the church of San Martín, which has been declared a Historic-Artistic Monument.
Bulnes Cemetery
Possibly one of the most modest cemeteries you can visit , with graves marked by crosses that are nothing more than two sticks tied together with wire, and the deceased's name painted by hand. It possesses such a genuine and humble essence that it is the perfect counterpoint to any ostentatious display related to death.
Bulnes is a remote village in the Cabrales mountains, accessible only on foot until 2001, before the funicular opened. The cemetery was once covered to allow for winter burials amidst the snow. In this austere cemetery rests "El Cuco," the first person to die on the slopes of Picu Urriellu, also known as Naranjo de Bulnes, on September 2, 1928. "I had a very bad night because of the cold," he wrote in a note before his death, "but looking at the stars," he added, hoping to reach eternity.
