We Visit The Cemetery Of San José De Granada

Formerly known as the Barreras cemetery, the San José de Granada cemetery features delicate funerary sculptures. A cemetery that was built on the old foundations of an Arab palace dating from the 14th century, the Nasrid palace of the Alixares.

Its origin dates back to 1805, after a great yellow fever epidemic that devastated this Andalusian city. Following the rationalist directives of King Carlos III, embodied in the Royal Decree of 1787, the cemetery was located outside the city walls, in the monumental and scenic surroundings of the Alhambra and the Generalife.

Patios of the cemetery of San José de Granada

The cemetery is configured in 19 courtyards,  spaces that have been consolidated over the centuries. There are some especially outstanding, they are the following:

• The primitive cemetery barriers is today the courtyard I. It will be consolidated as the general cemetery of the city until the first extensions carried out in 1844 and 1894.
• The courtyard of the Hermitage takes its name from a Neo-Romanesque chapel built in 1908. Today it is remodeled to carry out burials of ashes.
• Patio III, dating from the XIX-XX centuries, which preserves a very typical romantic aspect of the time.
• In the courtyard of the Alixares or San Cristóbal we can see remains of the pool of the old Nasrid palace.
• The viewpoints towards the city, La Vega and Sierra Nevada from the patio of San Miguel.

Stories and characters that rest in the cemetery of San José de Granada

In this cemetery you will learn great stories, but, in addition, you will discover graves and pantheons of famous people. We are going to show you just some of them:

The story of the eternal bride

We look at a tomb from 1881 located in patio I, in the pantheon of the Mirasol family. In Granada’s imaginary it is known as Sleeping Beauty. And countless romantic legends are told about her, created around the tombstone of Dolores Mirasol.

The most popular story tells that a beautiful young woman passed away days before her wedding and was buried in the bridal gown. Thus, on many occasions, Dolores Mirasol wakes up with a bouquet of flowers under her arms.

Tomb of Angel Ganivet

He was a writer and diplomat from Granada who, together with Miguel de Unamuno, Valle-Inclán and Jacinto Benavente, among others, to the Generation of 98. Creator of a whole current of literature and thought, he is the author of the book Granada La Bella .

Unlike in the case of other graves in this cemetery of San José de Granada, the tombstone of his grave is simple and humble  by express wish of the writer. If you are interested in knowing it, it is located in patio I.

The Lord of the Cemetery

It is a Christ stripped of his clothes that dates from the year 1907. This is located in patio II, in the pantheon of Manuel Rodríguez. This was an outstanding doctor, much loved due to his great interest in caring for the most needy and children.

This pantheon became a pilgrimage site for the belief that the Christ performed miracles. In 2002, as a gesture towards Granada, Manuel Rodríguez’s family donated it to the city. In 2005 the image of Christ was restored and protected, as it suffered a deterioration due to the handrail of the devotees.

Pantheon of José María Rodríguez Acosta

The pantheon of this renowned painter is also located in courtyard I. In it, the figure of an angel stands out, made in 1900 by the Italian sculptor Enrico Butti.

This famous painter from Granada is credited with the best nudes of the 20th century, but the nuances he used in still lifes also stand out. He began making Granada landscapes and traditional painting. He passed away in 1941.

Tips for visiting the San José de Granada cemetery

Currently, the San José de Granada cemetery is managed by the Emucesa company. From their website you can download a guide for the tourist visit of the cemetery. There are also guided and dramatized tours.

If you want to know this unique corner of Granada, you can choose to walk up from Plaza Nueva, in the center of the city, and visit the beautiful forest of the Alhambra. You can also choose one of the urban buses that access the area: microbus C30 (Alhambra – Centro) or line 13 Cementerio.

Main photography: mertxe iturrioz / Flickr.com