Impresión sangria 3 mm Cemiterio de Pereiró.pdf 1 27/10/2015 10:01:57
History of the cemetery In the last quarter of the 19th century, considerable prosperity came to Vigo. Ships regularly linked the town with Havana, Buenos Aires and Puerto Rico; Ourense and Vigo had been linked by the railway since 1881; new landfills made it possible to enlarge the port facilities, and the salt beds and other industries were in expansion, changing the urban landscape. In 1880, the Vigo Savings Bank came into being, and increasingly ambitious buildings were raised along the streets. The population rose to 15,000 inhabitants and the death rate at that time was from 300 to 350 per annum. The two municipal cemeteries had become unusable. The Picacho Cemetery only covered 4,600 square metres, and in the Santiago Cemetery the locals refused to bury their dead because the tombstones sank in its swampy land. For these reasons, in 1889, the municipal corporation began procedures to set up a new, modern, hygienic cemetery. The difficult task was to find free land due to the population density. Finally, the decision was taken for Pereiró, in the parish of Santa María de Castrelos. A rectangular area covering 250 by 260 metres for a cemetery occupying 67,750 square metres, 43,652 of which were for pantheons, ordinary tombs, common graves and a civil cemetery, divided into straight line squares separated by wide, wooded paths. One hundred and twenty one expropriations were made and 38,604 pesetas were paid out for them, with a total budget for the cemetery of 98,691.84 pesetas. The Town Council opened the cemetery in 1898 and soon the first burial took place: of a boy, José Rodríguez Rodríguez, aged 11. The prosperous bourgeoisie built splendid pantheons and temples, and soon brought the remains of their family members buried in the Picacho Cemetery. Here historic personages found rest, such as Concepción Arelal, José García Barbón, politicians, leading canning sector industrialists, etcetera. And numerous humble people who, with their work, forged the destiny of the town’s port and manufacturing, as well as this cemetery, which is part of its history.
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Funerary sculptures
Detail of the funerary monument by Gil and Sarabia
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The pantheons and funerary monuments in the Pereiró Cemetery are an interesting artistic whole. Commissioned by the more well-to-do families in the town (or covered by popular initiative) to well-known architects such as Jenaro de la Fuente – who was responsible for the project of the new cemetery in 1897 – Manuel Gómez Román or Francisco Castro; to stonemasons such as José Fernández, known as Pepiño Fainichos, an artist of the years prior to the Civil War; and to sculptors such as Francisco Asorey and Henry Godet. These are eclectic constructions, neo-classical, modernist or neo-Gothic in inspiration, leaving the aesthetic taste of each era and personage.
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Pereiró Cemetery Detail of the pantheon by Cesáreo González Rodríguez The two towns live together in the tranquility of respect. With the embellished sadness By the tree or f low That aesthetically line The park, where they sleep And dream, perhaps along with us, Those sick in the darkness, The beloved structures of old ancestors. All people have two towns One of the bright, luminous life And the life of irreversible silence Of eternity. María do Carmo Kruckenberg
Period funeral car In 1938, the Town Council purchased two Dodge Rams to convert them into funeral cars. Each one cost the town 20,000 pesetas, and one is still in perfect conditions.
Guided visits can be arranged: turismodevigo.org
Impresión sangria 3 mm Cemiterio de Pereiró.pdf 2 27/10/2015 10:02:11
Pereiró Cemetery
Concepción Arenal She spent the last years of her life in Vigo, along with her son, Fernando García, port works engineer, who drafted the report for the construction of the Pereiró Cemetery. Today the writer and criminal law theorist is remembered with a monolith, an essential work of Galician modernism.
José Barreras Massó Mortuary template, neo-gothic in inspiration, in memory of who was a leading canner and promoter of fishing in the Canarian-sub-Saharan bank.
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José Curbera Puig Merchant marine and canner, with a plant in San Fausto de Chapela. First Chairman of the Banco de Vigo. Neo-classical pantheon with four columns.
Ángel de Lema y Marina Editor and printer, co-founder of the daily newspaper, “Faro de Vigo”, of which he was owner and director.
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Bernardo Alfageme de Riba
Antonio Sanjurjo Badía
Canner. Presided the group bearing his name. Austere template with splendid stained glass windows in the interior.
Entrepreneur and shipbuilder. Mortuary column with a splendid statue of the thinker.
Cesáreo González Rodríguez
José Policarpo Sanz Small template in memory of who was one of the town’s great philanthropists.
Cinema entrepreneur and hotelier. Large pantheon with a Descent in relief.
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Tomás Mirambel Maristany Entrepreneur, founder of the Círculo Mercantil. Neo-classical funerary monument.
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Francisco Tapias Pascual
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Shipping agent and canner, he supported the 1st Republic of Emilio Castelar. Gothic inspired template.
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Gil y Sarabia (family) Impressive funerary monument by Francisco Asorey, in memory of the three deceased daughters of this bereaved family.
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Third generation of the Curbera family in Vigo. A family from Arenys de Mar. Important canning entrepreneurs in the Rias Baixas.
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Julio Curbera Fernández
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Neo-gothic chapel José Elduayen Gorriti, engineer and politician, he commissioned the works of the Madrid architect, Agustín Ortiz de Villajos, and the plans were reviewed by Jenaro de la Fuente. In the upper part lie his remains, and in the crypt, those of Fernando Quiñones de León y Elduayen, Marquis of Valladares, and of his mother, María de los Milagros Elduayen.
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Monument to the soldiers repatriated from Cuba and the Philippines.
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In 1898, the solders wounded in the wars in Cuba and the Philippines began to be repatriated, and Vigo lent its support, earning the town the motto of “faithful, loyal, valiant and always benevolent town”. The Red Cross remembered the fallen with this work.
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Monument of the Reconquest Dedicated to the fallen in the War of Independence against the French.
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José García Barbón
Hero of the War of Independence, whose real name was Bernardo González del Valle. This monument was raised in 1932, after bringing the mortal remains from the Ourense cemetery of Prexigueiro.
Funerary column dedicated to the entrepreneur and benefactor who donated the Municipal School of Arts and Crafts to the locals of the town.
Elías Pérez Martínez Teacher at the Colegio de Humanidades of Vigo. Funerary monument raised by popular subscription in 1918, promoted by the satirical journal, “La Ráfaga”.
Isaac Fraga Penedo Performance entrepreneur with cinemas throughout Spain. Modern style pantheon with a large cross.
Moisés Álvarez O’Farril Industrialist, founder of Pontesa, one of the most important factories in Europe.
Gardens of historical memory The civil cemetery, previously separated from the rest by a wall, includes agnostics, Protestants, Evangelicals, Muslims, etcetera. During the Civil War, political leaders and republican union members were shot. They are remembered today by a monument.
Heraclio Botana Working class leader and M.P., shot in 1936. A classical inspired sculpture is raised in his memory.
Ricardo Mella Cela Anarchist theoretician, founder of the daily newspapers “La Verdad” and “Acción libertaria. A statue recalls his memory.
Jenaro de la Fuente Domínguez Master craftsman and designer, artifice of some of the best buildings in Vigo.