Saturday, October 30, 2010

Cemetery Revival


Visitors look at slides illustrating the life and work of Julio Garavito, an astronomer who is on the 20,000 peso bill.

These days, in celebration of both Halloween and Colombia's bicentennial, Bogotá's Central Cemetery is holding a 'revival,' although the dead have not yet clawed their way out of their tombs.

The Central Cemetery has some 22,000 tombs, including the graves of some of the most important people of Colombia's history, including many ex-presidents, at least one ex-dictator, the founder of Bogotá and leaders of the revolution against Spain.
The grave of Dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla.

Several of the buried here have also gained almost saintly status. The most famous is that of Leo Siegfried Kopp, a Jewish-German immigrant who founded the Bavaria Beer Company. Believers sometimes line up a dozen strong to whisper in Sr. Kopp's ear and ask him for favors.

Blog written by Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The cemetery exhibition was designed and staffed by Urbe .

No comments:

Post a Comment