On the seaward hill to the south of the Anella Olímpica (Olympic Ring), this huge cemetery dating from 1883 stretches down Montjuïc's southern slopes, combining elaborate architect-designed tombs for rich families and small niches for the rest. The graves of numerous Catalan artists, including Joan Miró, and politicians rest here. At the southern entrance stands the Col·lecció de Carrosses Fúnebres, filled with late-18th-century to mid-20th-century hearses. Check online for guided visits (Spanish and Catalan).
Besides Miró, the big names buried here are Carmen Amaya (the flamenco dance star from La Barceloneta), Jacint Verdaguer (the 19th-century priest and poet to whom the rebirth of Catalan literature is attributed), Francesc Macià and Lluís Companys (nationalist presidents of Catalonia; Companys was executed by Franco’s henchmen in the Castell de Montjuïc in 1940), Ildefons Cerdà (who designed L’Eixample) and Joan Gamper (the founder of the FC Barcelona football team, aka Hans Gamper). Many victims of Franco’s postwar revenge were buried in unmarked graves here – the last of them in 1974.
