Romantic gothic cemetery in the upper part of the city, on the slopes of Montealegre, linked to the old convent of San Francisco. Bathed in light from dawn to dusk, with the scent of laurels and cypress trees and the beauty of its mausoleums, tombstones and corners, it captivated poets and artists from Ourense who found their last resting place here . The San Francisco Express album by the emblematic rock band Los Suaves is a tribute to this melancholic and elegant cemetery. It was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest in 2000.
Its history dates back to the beginning of the 19th century, when the city, immersed in a process of transformation and growth, was in need of a new cemetery that would cover the growing demand and was outside the urban nucleus. The Franciscans were the ones who gave land for its construction next to the convent. In 1834 it was inaugurated, with the blessing of the bishop, and in 1887 the secular cemetery was built in a small annex. The burial space would be expanded on multiple occasions to the south and east, climbing the slopes of Montealegre.
It is worth stopping to look for the tombstone of the professor and anthropologist Xosé Ramón Fernández Oxea "Benchosey", in which he humorously invites his friends to "visit" him in his new home, noting that posthumous tributes are not allowed.
His interest lies both in the beauty and monumentality of its graves (the work of artists such as Piñeiro, Víctor Macho, Faílde ... but also those coming from the emblematic Malingre metallurgy ) as well as in its inhabitants, since here great names of literature, the arts, rest and thought: Blanco Amor, Otero Pedrayo, Vicente Risco, Lamas Carvajal, Cuevillas, Xavier Prado "Lameiro", Marcelo Macías, or the painters Fernández Mazas, Prego de Oliver, Parada Justel and Jesús Soria . The cemetery has its Association of Friends, of which the poet José Ángel Valente ( buried here) was honorary president , and who for years fought for its recognition and protection, achieving that in 2000 it was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest.
Cemeteries of Ourense
The opening of San Francisco marks a milestone in the history of burial in the city. In medieval times, the dead rested inside churches (in the case of noble families) or in cemeteries near them, such as the Plaza de la Magdalena . During the 16th-19th centuries, in a city that grew little, the two urban cemeteries, that of the Church of the Trinity and that of the Hospital de San Roque (in a part of what is now the Alameda ) were sufficient for the population .
Currently, Ourense has three cemeteries, the two historic ones in San Francico and As Caldas, in the A Ponte neighborhood, and one of modern construction in Santa Mariña.
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Schedule:
from monday to friday de 9:00 a 19:30, weekends and festives 10:00 a 13:00 y de 16:00 a 19:30