Walks through Barcelona's funerary heritage

You've been there a few times, but we can tell you now that you won't get to know Barcelona's cemeteries in depth if you don't take a guided tour in which the secrets of each cemetery are explained to you. This is the proposal of a cycle that, with its title, reminds us all of the end we will have: Memento Mori. The itineraries begin on the 28th of January and take place every Tuesday until the 11th of March.

Yes, one day or another, as the title of the cycle says, we all have to die, but while we are alive? we must make the most of the time and enjoy as many beautiful things as possible. And Barcelona's cemeteries, and especially the oldest ones, conserve displays of great beauty in the form of sculpture or funerary architecture.

You can see this if, on 28th January, you join the visit organised by the Can Ramis Civic Centre to Cementiri del Poblenou, the first cemetery to be built when burials within the urban perimeter had already been banned. It must be said that, when it was inaugurated in 1819, it was a swampy and not very pleasant place that the city's residents were reluctant to visit... unless they had no other choice. Today, the enclosure is a small wonder that, with the language of art, tells us about the history of the city.

You will live similar experiences, every Sunday, in different funeral enclosures. On 4 February, you can visit Montjuïc Cemetery, where well-known Barcelona men and women are buried; on 11 February, Sant Andreu Cemetery; on 18 February, Les Corts Cemetery; and on 25 February, Sant Gervasi Cemetery, where, among others, you will find the grave of the poet Joan Maragall.

Sign up for the guided visit to the Sarrià Cemetery (4 March) and you can pay your tribute to the tomb of the lovers and poets Clementina Arderiu and Carles Riba (‘Love never dies’, says the ancient Greek saying that all of them knew the couple's epitaph). Finally, on 11 March, they will be waiting for you to visit another old cemetery in the city, this one little known, the Horta cemetery.

If you want to discover the city and its history through the tombs and graves of the people who lived there, come and explore the city's cemeteries in the Memento Mori cycle organised by the Matas i Ramis Civic Centre, but first check the website of the Barcelona Civic Centres Network for all the information about the visits and register on the website of the Matas i Ramis Civic Centre.