The Municipal Cemetery of Saint Joseph was established in 1876. It is located opposite the English Cemetery in the city of Linares (Jaén, Spain).
The good impression that the Provincial Architect made with the design of the English cemetery was sufficient to assign him the task of designing the new cemetery in 1876, although the works were later finished in 1904 by D. Francisco de Paula Gomez Casado, the Municipal Architect.
Similarities with the English Cemetery
The fact that the English cemetery was the inspiration for the new cemetery resulted in quite a few similarities between them:
- The bracket that exposes the following quote extracted from the Bible: "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Even now says the spirit to rest in their work. Apocal.cap.XIV.vers.XIII. YEAR 1892". It’s unusual to find this type of funerary inscription in Catholic cemeteries. Maybe Jorge Porrúa took the idea of the biblical passages that adorn the tombstones belonging to the English Cemetery.
- Both cemeteries, maintain a common set of elements:
- Main Street, starting from the front door leading into a non-funerary structure.
- Same number of side streets that along with the main street delimit the central space of the cemetery.
- Central space, whose function differs depending on the cemetery in question: decorative in San Jose and religious in the English one.
Design and concept
The concept of the cemetery was based on a series of calculations in relation to the 40.000 inhabitants of the city, which gave a mortality rate of 3% (about 1.200 deaths per year).
The design concept consist of:
- Top Mausoleums and family graves, also called “Gallery of Illustrious Men graves”. They are located in the central area which welcomes members of local renowned families such as Bautista Bosistow, related to the English Cemetery, Roselly and Castroverde Piñar.
- Around there are large burial crypts, tombs and niches for the poorer classes. On the contrary to the English Cemetery (where the ornamentation is almost nonexistent), in the Cemetery of Sanint Joseph the difference between powerful and lower social strata is more than evident in the ornamentation of the tombs.
- Several courtyards that line the central area: San Luis, San Miguel, San Juan, San Diego, the “Corralillo” and tha yard graves. On these spaces, ostentatious tombs and crypts are also located.
- Also the project includes landscaped areas where today we can see the native plant species like cypress (tree sacred to Hades, god of the pagan underworld), and a palm trees on marginal sites, planted by the British to "emulate" the exotic botany of their homes. This is the case of the tomb of the British Catholic Guillermo English, whose name is linked with the workforce and Remfry Hasselden family, buried in the English Cemetery.
- Chapel in the background, on whose shrine is located one of our greatest paintings of Romanticism, the “Ezequiel View”, work of the painter Manuel Arroyo y Lorenzo. It relates the biblical passage in which God puts the prophet in the Valley of Bones, and tells him that blows them life. Skeletons recover their human form and life covering them of muscles, organs, tendons... It’s very unusual to find this kind of works of the Old Testament in a Catholic chapel.
The “Courtyard of San Diego”
The “Courtyard of San Diego” enjoys protection at regional level, with the category of "Place of Historical Memory" by the Agreement of 27 December 2013, the Governing Council (BOJA nº 26 of 7 February 2014). Inside of the courtyard, there is a monument to the fallens Republicans during the Spanish Civil War and the reprisals in the dictatorship of Franco. It was built on a mass grave, where their human remains rest.
Important graves and monuments
- Chapel of the Cemetery of Saint Joshep (1892): It contains an oil painting depicting the Biblical passage known as “Vision of Ezekiel” in the valley of the bones. It was made by a painter from Murcia, Manuel Arroyo and Lorenzo.
- Masonic Grave in the Cemetery of Saint Joseph (1942): Tomb with a cross of Saint Andrew, belonging to D. Enrique Naranjo de La Garza, head engineer of the Miner District of Linares-La Carolina since 1886.
Cemetery Contacts
Municipal Cemetery of Saint JosephC/ Juan Diego de Dios Barrero (Carretera de Torreblascopedro s/n)
23700 Linares (Jaén)
Spain
José M. Rodríguez (Director)
Phone: + 34 953 60 20 24
Email: jmrodriguez@cpandalucia.es
City Hall of Linares Contacts
Yaiza López Sánchez(Responsible of Tourism Area of the City Hall)
El Pósito de Linares. Museo Raphael y Centro de Interpretación de la Ciudad.
Iglesia, 5 - 23700 Linares (Jaén)
Phone: +34 953 10 01 83 or +34 607 25 75 52
Email: turismo@aytolinares.es or ylopez@aytolinares.es
Juan Parrilla Sánchez
(Technical of Heritage Area of the City Hall)
Centro de Interpretación del Paisaje Minero. Antiguo Muelle de Carga de la Estación de Madrid.
Paseo de Linarejos, s/n. 23700 Linares (Jaén)
Phone: +34 953 60 78 12 or +34 607 28 83 34
Email: turismo@aytolinares.es or jparrilla@aytolinares.es
Opening hours
Summer: 9.00 - 14.00 and 17.00 - 19.00Winter: 9.00 - 14.00 and 16.00-18.00