During a 7-day cruise to Cuba on fathom, I participated in the Best of Havana tour, which is included for all cruise guests if they choose to participate.
The 140-acre Cementerio de Cristobal Colon was one of the stops on this tour. I had read that other travelers to Cuba did not enjoy this stop, but I found the stories behind the cemetery’s elaborately sculpted memorials fascinating; reminiscent of La Recoleta in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Named for Christopher Columbus, the Colon Cemetery was founded in 1876 in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood. It was designed by the Galician architect Calixto Arellano de Loira y Cardoso, a graduate of Madrid’s Royal Academy of Arts, who became the cemetery’s first occupant when he died before it was completed. Today the cemetery is home to 2 million graves with more than 500 major mausoleums, chapels, and family vaults.
Today some of tombs and family chapels are vandalized and in disrepair. Most often, these are the tombs of exiled families, whose descendants live in new countries outside of Cuba.
The Central Chapel, pictured above, is said to be modeled after the Duomo in Florence, Italy.
Each fathom tour group is hosted by a specific Colon Cemetery guide. Our guide, pictured above, shared stories of the Cemetery and of its role in Havana and Cuba.
For example, these faces in the photo above are part of the 75-foot tall Mausoleo de los Bomberos, a monument to the firefighters who lost their lives in a building fire on May 17, 1890. The building owner concealed the fact that he’d hidden a stash of explosives inside the burning building. They exploded, killing numerous firefighters who were working to extinguish the fire.
The firefighter’s monument contains significant symbolism. One example is the “teardrops” that hang from the chain around the monument.
The most famous grave in the cemetery (picture above) is tied to the legend of “La Milagrosa.” This is the grave of Amelia Goyre de Hoz, who died on May 3, 1901 while giving birth to a son who also died. The baby was buried in the same coffin at the feet of his mother. Her desperate husband, José Vicente Adot, went to the cemetery every afternoon and tapped the gravestone with the bronze knocker screaming: Wake up Amelia! Wake up Amelia! He made this ritual for 17 years until he died.
According to legend, when the grave was opened some time afterwards, the baby was reportedly found cradled in the mother’s arms.
People now visit the tomb to pay respects to the “milagrosa” (“the miracle-worker) by tapping with the knockers three times as Amelia’s husband did.
Then they make a wish and walk backwards out of the tomb as to not turn their back to the statue of Amelia.
Have you visited Havana’s Cementerio de Cristobal Colon? What was your favorite story?
Check out these other posts from my cruise to Cuba:
- A Look Around the Adonia Cruise Ship from fathom
- Reflecting on My Visit to Cuba: People to People Interactions Were the Best
- Adding Cuba to My Travelers’ Century Club List of 325 Destinations
- 50 Interesting Facts about Cuba
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