 Havana Cristobal Colon Cemetery is a true architectural monument with the impressive marble figures and rich history.  "La Milagrosa" The tomb belongs to Amelia Goyri, who died during childbirth on May 3, 1901, at the age of 23. The baby did not survive either and both, mother and son, were buried in the tomb. inconsolable widower, Jose Vicente Adot visited every day, whose deaths he never accepted by thinking that Amelia was asleep. The day the remains were to be exhumed, witnesses saw that the bodies were intact. Amelia and her child were buried side-by-side, some say the baby was buried at her feet. When the coffin was opened, the baby was found in the mother's arms. La Milagrosa that attracts the tour buses and the ordinary Cubans who travel from nearby neighborhoods and from across the country, fervently believing that Amelia will grant what they ask. |
     
The Cristobal Colon "Christopher Columbus Cemetery", was built in 1869 by Galician architect Calixto Arellano de Loira y Cardoso, who had graduated from Madrid's Royal Academy of Arts of San Fernando. The fame of the Colon Cemetery traveled around the world in the tourist guides, devoted to inform on the most interesting sites in the capital of the largest Caribbean island. True architectural monument, gate to the cemetery called "Gate of Peace". Visitors are attracted by unique symbols such as inverted torches, that reminds about the end of life, as well as branches of laurel and winged hourglasses marking the irreversible nature of earthly life. Another sculpture - made of the Carrara marble and built in Italy by Cuban sculptor Jose Villalta Saavedra - crowned the northern portico. Thework entitle "The Three Theological Virtues" Faith, Hope and Charity bears an inscription in Latin Janua Sum Pacis, after portico was called the Gate of Peace.  To walk the streets of this 136 years old cemetery is to be introduced to its varied and storied citizens, including the cemetery's Spanish architect, Calixto de Loira who became Colon's first occupant when he died before his work was completed. This is one of the great historical cemeteries of the world. There is one in Genoa, La Recoleta in Buenos Aires, Pere Lachaise in Paris, and Colon in Havana, you can associate these places with history and art. Chapel of Constante Ribalaigua, a friend of Ernest Hemingway and founder of the Floridita, famous Hemingway bar in Old Havana. He also is credited with having invented famous daiquiri drink. The cemetery seems like an enormous ornamented garden, there are Egyptian influences, as well as a replica of an Italian church. Just beyond the entrance is an obelisk marking the tomb of Gen. Maximo Gomez, hero of Cuban Independence War. 
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