Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo

Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo also known as Cementerio de San Carlos or San Carlos Cemetery is located in Matanzas, Cuba.^[1] It was inaugurated on September 2, 1872 on 13.5 hectares.^[2] It is the third most important Cemetery of Cuba in terms of patrimonial value, as much for its architecture, as for the personalities interred. Its main architect was Francisco Sosa Vélez, who used Carrara marble, bronze and cast iron for the construction.

Cementerio de San Carlos
Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo (August 2007).
Details
Established	1872
Location	Matanzas
Country	Cuba
Coordinates	23°01′57″N 81°36′11″W
Size	13.5 hectares (33 acres)

The San Carlos Cemetery came to solve the problem Matanzas had with the big number of cemeteries in the area, a figure higher than that of any other Cuban location.

The octagonal Chapel contains the remains of the martyrs of different wars of independence. Its catacombs, currently the only ones active on the island, contain 756 niches in two underground pantheons and an exclusive system of ventilation against atmospheric pollution, similar to the Tobias Gallery, in the Colon Cemetery, Havana, in Havana.^[3]

Notable interments

• Jose Jacinto Milanés (1814–1863), writer
• Joseph Marion Hernández (1793–1857), United States Congressman (interred in the del Junco family crypt^[4]
• Miguel Faílde (1852–1921), musician^[5]
• Fernando Heydrich (1827–1903), engineer and sculptor, Builder of the Acueduct of Matanzas
• Bonifacio Byrne (1861–1936), poet
• Severiano Sainz y Bencamo (1871–1937), Catholic bishop
• Alfredo Nicasio Heydrich Martinez (1862–1933), one of the first producers of Sisal on the island

References

• Cuba portal

1. "Cemetery of San Carlos". www.matanzascity.org. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
2. Ernesto Chávez Álvarez (29 October 2014). "Galerías de la Necrópolis San Carlos. Las "Catacumbas de Matanzas"" (in Spanish). Arquitectura Cuba. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
3. "San Carlos Borromeo: historia de una necrópolis – Isla Local". Isla Local (in European Spanish). 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
4. Kear, Matthew (2011). In Reverence: A Plan for the Preservation of Tolomato Cemetery, St. Augustine, Florida. Lulu.com. p. 118. ISBN 978-0557864522.
5. "El cementerio San Carlos Borromeo, Matanzas – DLM". DLM (in European Spanish). 2017-03-19. Archived from the original on 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2017-12-29.