CEMENTERIO DE LOS ILUSTRES
Go there and contact
Inaugurated on August 26, 1849 with 35 hectares, it is one of the largest cemeteries in the country where members of wealthy families, political and military personalities, writers, former presidents, and ordinary citizens are based.
The night (and diurnal) visits in the cemetery of the Illustrious were born from the initiative of the head of the division of police tourism, Vladimir Cáceres. This «nécrotourisme» thus allowed El Salvador to become a precursor in Central America. Declared protected zone since 2009, the Cemetery of the Illustrious possesses a religious heritage and a sociocultural heritage preserved and valued more than ever. It is this tourism potential that Guatemala has also decided to exploit since 2013.
During a course of two to three hours, the visitor will discover in the dark and glow of torches the white marble sculptures made for some of them in Genoa (Italy) but also busts of angels, virgin and richly decorated seraphim. The Art Nouveau mausoleums from the late th century and the beginning of the th century are numerous in the cemetery.
The remains of emblematic political figures as well as important Salvadoran writers such as Arturo Ambrogi and poet Alberto Masferrer are here.
The grave of General Francisco Morazán, father of independence in Central America and a famous member of the Central American Union of the 15 th century, shot on 1842 September in San José, Costa Rica, is the very first tomb that was built in the cemetery.
We will also see the military grave of Captain General Gerardo Barrios., President of El Salvador, and that of his wife, Adelaida Guzmán de Barrios.
La, the most beautiful sculpture of the cemetery, made of white marble, represents real size Lidia Cristales. The young woman died from bleeding. While she was pregnant, she decided to spend three hours in very difficult conditions, which were far from the capital and therefore from the hospital; she couldn't be saved by her doctor husband. After the death of his wife, he decided to become gynecologist-obstetrician to help Salvadoran women to deliver in good conditions. In memory of his wife, César Emilio López commanded, from a photograph of his deceased wife, an angel bust to a Genoese sculptor. Dazzled by the beauty of the statue, he decided to realize a love mausoleum with a replica to the same of the deceased. A particular set of lights occurs at the end of the day on this sculpture that is recommended to see.
You can also admire the Mayan frescoes of a tomb, the plane of the Italian pilot Enrico Massi, the pioneer of aviation in El Salvador, passed away in 1923, or the sculpture of the "motorbike", on which his owner J. Francisco Sandoval died in 1948, among the most original tombs.