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Panteón de Dolores

 
Wikipedia: Panteón de Dolores
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Main entrance to the cemetery

The Panteón Civil de Dolores is the largest cemetery in Mexico and home to the prestigious “Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres” (Rotunda of the Illustrious Persons). It is located on Constituyentes Avenue in Miguel Hidalgo borough of Mexico City, between sections two and three of Chapultepec Park.[1][2] The history of the cemetery goes back to 1870 when Dolores Murrieta de Galloso acquired 2,400,000 sq meters of land on which to found a cemetery. She died in 1874, leaving the work unfinished but her family completed the project. In 1875, the cemetery opened and named in Dolores’ honor.[2] Today the cemetery has about 700,000 tombs, many with multiple occupants.[3]

Contents

The Rotunda of Illustrious Persons

View of the Rotunda

The Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres (Rotunda of Distinguished Persons) is a site that honors those who are considered to have exalted the civic, national and human values of Mexico. It contains the remains of those who have made important contributions in the military, civic and cultural fields.[4] Originally named “The Rotunda of Illustrious Men,” it was conceived by then President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada as a space to pay homage to certain chosen individuals. The decree reads “In this place of honor, the necessary land will be given free of charge to erect the monuments designed to guard the remains of or perpetuate the memory of the illustrious men who are decreed or for whom posthumous honors are decreed.” [2] In 1876, The first person to be honored with a burial here was a soldier by the name of Pedro Litechipia, who died fighting against the empire of Maximilian.[4] By decree of President Vicente Fox in 2003, the name was changed to Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres (Rotunda of Distinguished Persons) as the Rotunda also includes a number of female occupants.[4] The Rotunda contains the graves of three former presidents, many heroes from the Mexican Revolution, as well as a number writers, artists and scientists.[3] The National General Archive exhibits 104 images of the politicians, musicians, poets, writers, journalists, painters, intellectuals, educators, scientists and military men who currently rest here.[4]

Problems

Crowded gravesites

Although it is considered the largest cemetery in Latin America,[5] the most serious problem at the cemetery is that it has run out of space. No new gravesites have been established since 1975 and only those families who bought a site in perpetuity before 1977 may bury loved ones here, as long as they stack them over those already interred. Municipal laws only allow for five bodies to be buried in the same plot, but in some tombs as many as ten have been buried one atop another.[3]

The cemetery is working to encourage the acceptance of cremation as an alternative, and the crowded conditions along with the desire to be interred here has created demand for exhumation and cremation services. The cemetery has four crematoria averaging about four cremations daily. However, about ten traditional burials a day are still performed here, all in graves that had been used previously.[3]

The cemetery is listed with National Institute of Anthropology and History as a historical monument due to the persons interred and age of the cemetery.[6] However, this has not kept the cemetery in good repair. There are problems with maintenance and security. In the back part of the cemetery in a gully, workers have discarded old coffins and urns that are considered unusable. Those who work in the cemetery testify to graverobbing here for artistic and archeological pieces.[5] In January 2009, a section of the original retaining wall built in the 19th century on the south side fell. This section was over a km long and 4 meters high, damaging a number of graves.[6] Rehabilitation work was scheduled for September 2008 at a cost of 10 million pesos with a focus of making the cemetery more dignified for visitors, including the remodeling of the main entrance on Constituyentes Avenue.[5]

List of notable interred here

The list of the notables interred in the Rotonda include:

Tomb of Diego Rivera
Tomb of José Clemente Orozco
Tomb of David Alfaro Siqueiros
Tomb of Nabor Carrillo
Tomb of Dolores del Río
Tomb of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada
Tomb of Amado Nervo
Tomb of María Lavalle
Tomb of Herberto Castillo Martínez

See also

References

  1. ^ Noble, John (2000). Lonely Planet Mexico City. Oakland, CA: Lonely Planet Publications. ISBN 1 86450 087 5. 
  2. ^ a b c "Panteon Civil de Dólores". http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=2148322. Retrieved 2009-05-28. 
  3. ^ a b c d Tegel, Simeon (1 December 2002). "Crowd control. (Trade Talk).(Panteon Civil de Dolores cemetery runs out of space, Mexico City, Mexico)(Brief Article)". Latin Trade. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-95355248.html. Retrieved 2009-05-28. 
  4. ^ a b c d "Rotunda de las Personas Ilustres". http://www.explorandomexico.com/about-mexico/5/277/. Retrieved 2009-05-28. 
  5. ^ a b c Robles, Johana (25 August 2008). "‘Revivirá panteón Dolores" (in Spanish). El Universal. http://www.el-universal.com.mx/ciudad/91607.html. Retrieved 2009-05-28. 
  6. ^ a b Prieto Soldevilla, Alain de J. (9 February 2009). "En riesgo panteón catalogado por el INAH" (in Spanish). CNN Expansion.com. http://www.cnnexpansion.com/obras/2009/02/09/en-riesgo-panteon-catalogado-por-el-inah. Retrieved 2009-05-28. 
  7. ^ Presidential decree which determined the inclusion, among other people, of Emma Godoy Lobato in the Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres. (in Spanish)
  8. ^ Presidential decree which determined the inclusion, among other people, of Bernardo Quintana Arrioja in the Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres. (in Spanish)

Coordinates: 19°24′25″N 99°12′14″W / 19.407°N 99.204°W / 19.407; -99.204


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