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All Mexico Oaxaca Panteón General (General Cemetery)

Panteón General (General Cemetery)

This graveyard boasts a medley of diverse and imaginative funeral architecture.

Oaxaca, Mexico

Added By
Joseph Heathcott
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Two foam-green crypts with planters.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Two foam-green crypts with planters.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Low-lying crypts in foreground with large mausolea in the distance.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
At left, a mausoleum rendered in a congeries of styles.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Iron trelliswork trained with flowering vines.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
High Modernist mausoleum with flat cantilevered roof.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
The weeping branches of this long-needle pine tree frame the cemetery’s architecture..   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Stained class depicting Jesus healing a child, decorating the back wall of a mausoleum.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Contemporary grave sites at Panteón General.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
One of several masonry workshops on Calle del Refugio.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
The Gonzalez Ilescas family selected a Palladian design.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Variations in headstones.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
The two expressive curves frame a neoclassical cabinet.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Final resting place of an avid cyclist.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
An A-frame structure (foreground), and a parabaloid roof surmounting a tiled box with glass door and windows.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Modernist interpretation of a Gothic apse.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
For the internment of Saidith Velázquez Flores, the family erected a spikey Gothic cabinet.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Variations in roofs, crypts, and headstones at Panteón General.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Dried rose left on a lichenous crypt.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
A highly expressive monolithic headstone.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Panteón General.   Joseph Heathcott / Atlas Obscura User
Cempasúchil flowers blooming close to Día de Muertos 2024.   linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
  linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
  linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
Motorcycle tomb.   linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
Day of the Dead   ski queen / Atlas Obscura User
  linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
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About

To the east of the Historic Center of Oaxaca lies the Panteón General, or General Cemetery, known colloquially as San Miguel. While it houses the remains of many illustrious figures in the history of the region and nation, it is also a showcase for diverse and imaginative funeral architecture.

Oaxacan authorities established the Panteón General in 1829 on land that at the time lay on the town's periphery, located between the Rio Jalatlaco and the sandstone quarries. The new cemetery was urgently needed to handle the overflow of bodies from a raging smallpox epidemic that killed a quarter of the population. Five years later, cholera swept through the town, killing hundreds more. Over the next two centuries, some 11,000 bodies would find rest in the necropolis.

Today, gravesites rest amid a lush landscape of orange, cedar, and pine trees, climbing vines, potted plants, and flower bouquets placed in vases. Older crypts and grave markers have given way to larger and more ornate mausolea in a panoply of styles. Many deploy neoclassical elements, with varied uses of pediments, architraves, pilasters, and columns to effect a dignified, formal aspect. Others adopt the clean lines and restrained ornamentation of Modernist design, particularly popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Still others experiment with highly expressive forms, materials, and colors, adding visual variety to the landscape.

In the streets surrounding the Panteón General, numerous commercial establishments have cropped up to serve the funeral needs of families. Flower sellers gather outside the gate every day, while florists maintain shops in the neighborhood for families seeking more elaborate arrangements. Stonemason workshops line the cemetery's southern border along Calle Del Refugio, supplying the cemetery with its iconic, high-craft tombs. On special occasions such as feast days, vendors set up their carts and kiosks in the surrounding streets, selling food, mementos, and religious icons.

Since its inception, the Panteón General has been an important site for the observance of Día de Muertos—Day of the Dead. Families bring food and drink for their departed loved ones, and the cemetery fills with thousands of candles, crepe paper streamers, painted signs, floral arrangements, and cempasúchil (Tagetes erecta, also known as Mexican marigold, used for rituals since pre-Columbian times and now representative of the holiday). Celebrations were canceled in 2017, however, after an earthquake damaged the cemetery's sandstone gate. As of 2019, some of the damage has been repaired, though residents continue to report unsafe conditions of walls and gates. In any case, the cemetery has reopened, and once again plays its central role in the ritual life of Oaxaqueños.

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The cemetery is open every day from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

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Added By

Joseph Heathcott

Edited By

linkogecko, ski queen

  • linkogecko
  • ski queen

Published

July 10, 2019

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Panteón General (General Cemetery)
Calle Del Refugio
Barrio De Jalatlaco
Oaxaca, 68080
Mexico
17.06377, -96.712775
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