I
have been a little pushed for time lately and not been able to post as often as
I would like. When I saw this interesting article about Lisbon’s Cemitério dos
Prazeres on Portuguese news site Mensagem de Lisboa it reminded me that I have
been meaning to write about the cemetery since I first visited it back in 2014.
Since then I have visited Prazeres many times and have taken literally hundreds
of photographs. I thought sharing the article would give me the opportunity to
use a few of my photos and save me the hassle of having to write the text
myself. Translating Alvaro Filho’s article would be much quicker than writing
something from scratch, right? Wrong. I thought I would just have to put the original
text through google translate, correct the obvious errors and polish up the
English a little bit. But the output
from google translate is riddled with errors and ungrammatical to the point of
incomprehensibility at times; it took me a lot longer than I thought to produce
this. Still, it was worth the effort – it is an excellent article on a fascinating
cemetery. I just hope I don’t get sued for breach of copyright:
For
two decades historian Licínio Fidalgo has been clocking in for work amongst the
mausoleums and crypts of the renowned Cemitério dos Prazeres in Lisbon. For the last seven years he has been the senior
official responsible for the cemetery which opened in 1833 and today occupies 12
hectares, has seven thousand tombs and around a million permanent inhabitants.
The
liveliness of Licínio’s walk is at odds with his sepulchral profession. The
jovial 62-year-old is an enthusiastic guide who leads us through the lush cypresses
of the cemetery to the bowels of a colossal pyramid-shaped mausoleum. Here a
crypt opens into two floors and holds dozens of coffins; a setting straight out
of one of Edgar Allan Poe’s more gothic tales. Totally undaunted, Licínio gropes
through the shadows, flashlight in hand. The narrow hallway, no more than five
feet wide, is flanked by coffins that rest on stone shelves. The faltering air
supply descends from the surface through a small duct and gently sways a spider’s
web. Our path ends in a large chamber; our guide shines the beam of his
torch into the gloom to reveal walls packed floor to ceiling with tombs.
Being
at ease in the presence of skeletal remains has been, if you will pardon the pun, the backbone
of Licínio’s career. Licínio has been working at
Cemitério dos Prazeres for 20 years, the last seven as general administrator, a
kind of mayor of the necropolis. The geography
of the cemetery is a reflection of the
living city outside its walls, with its alleys, courtyards, roads, traditional Portuguese houses and even a spectacular view of the river Tejo and
the 25 de Abril bridge. This city of the dead spreads over almost 30 acres,
houses seven thousand tombs and about a million permanent inhabitants, buried during
the two hundred years since Prazeres opened in 1833. And like other any other city
it is subject to myriad problems and challenges that Licínio
faces with apparent tranquillity, all in the name of maintaining peace – in
this case, eternal peace – in the cemetery.
Licínio, a historian with a degree from the
Lisbon Faculty of Arts, hails originally from Coimbra and arrived in the
capital as a child. His career began at the city council’s Office for Lisbon
Studies; professional life among the tombs and mausoleums was purely down to chance.
“There was a major restructuring in the local authority and, before finding
myself redeployed somewhere I didn’t want to be, I started asking around about
other jobs. Then, a friend told me: come here and see this, you'll like it. So
I went, I saw and as promised I liked!” he says.
The
friend had referred him to the Cemetery Management Division of the city
council. In his first 15 years in his new position, Licínio divided his time between
all Lisbon's cemeteries, overseeing the maintenance and restoration of the monuments,
or looking after students carrying out research for their master and doctoral
theses. In 2014 his dedication culminated in a promotion to coordinate the most
iconic necropolis in the Portuguese capital. His background in history makes
the manager see Prazeres with the eyes of a museum visitor. “This is a building
with traces of Art Nouveau and clear Masonic iconography”, he says in a
professorial tone, pointing to the imposing mausoleum of Pedro de Sousa
Holstein, the Duke of Palmela, a pyramidal structure 40 feet high, Europe's
largest private tomb. Built in 1849 on a
two acre plot, the mausoleum is a complex structure that houses a cemetery in
front of the pyramid, which in turn contains a mausoleum and a crypt. In all
200 bodies rest there. “Outside, here are the Duke's servants,” explains
Licínio, pointing to the large plot, “following Masonic tradition, the men
buried on the right and the women on the left.”
Licinius
points out that the term ‘burial’ is sometimes misused. “These were actually
buried, as they are in contact with the earth,” he explains, referring to the
duke's servants who lie in the ground, “but those who are in the mausoleum or
the crypt, no. There, there is inhumation, a process whose opposite is exhumation,”
he explains. This small detail contains a social distinction. The burials, in
direct contact with the ground, are simpler and cheaper, because the bodies tend
to deteriorate faster. The vaults are isolated from the earth by stone shelves
and the coffins are lined with lead or zinc. “To preserve the body longer.
Nobody wants to take the risk of being resurrected on Judgment Day with one
less phalange”, the historian elucidates. Still in the funerary semantic field,
the term “mausoleum” denotes a superior status. Most of the tombs are simpler,
built to house the coffin at the bottom and the top decorated with a stone
frame or a small chapel. The most illustrious dead, such as the Duke of
Palmela, are in mausoleums with the right to a crypt, a basement where you can
walk among the dead. Social distinction is also ornamental. The largest tomb in
Europe has undergone several changes over the years. The pyramidal format was
one of them, as was the retreat of the pediment and the inclusion of new Greek
columns. Inside, the Duke's granddaughter, the third Duchess of Palmela, Maria
Luísa de Sousa Holstein, hired the Italian Giuseppe Cinatti to produce marble
sculptures. Born in Siena, José Cinatti – as he was popularly known in Lisbon–
became famous for his set designs at the São Carlos and Dona Maria II theatres.
He was not the only Italian to create funerary sculptures for Prazeres. Another scenographer, Luigi Manini, designed
the tomb of Carvalho Monteiro, the owner of the famous Quinta da Regaleira in
Sintra, a merchant so rich that he became known as Monteiro of the Millions.
The
tomb of “Monteiro dos Milhões” is the location for another of the cemeteries curious
stories; the key that opens the mausoleum door is, according to legend, the
same that opened the front doors of Carvalho Monteiro’s mansion in Quinta da
Regaleira and his house in Lisbon, on Rua do Alecrim. The eccentricity of the
prosperous merchant, who kept the key to his eternal abode in his pocket until
his last breath, had a very mundane origin. Carvalho Monteiro made his fortune
in Brazil and rumour had it that when he returned to Portugal, he disguised
himself as a beggar. “His own sister would have driven him from the door of the
family home but his mother scolded her and ordered her to serve the stranger
some soup. After the prodigal merchant had revealed his identity, he always took
care of his mother, but when he died he did not leave any inheritance for his
sister”, says Licínio, suggesting that part of his fortune would have been
buried with him.
A
curious story, but not like that of the military engineer Aniceto da Rocha and
his quadrangular tomb, ornamented with a… dice. “Maybe he wanted to dice with
death”, quips Licínio. Cunning, Aniceto designed a loaded dice, the sum of
values on opposite faces does not equal seven,
like a true dice. Despite the ruse, the engineer was unable to outwit death and
ended up losing the bet. Death, however, found Aniceto da Rocha standing. “He
seems to have taken the expression 'the military die standing up' seriously”,
explains Licínio. The engineer designed his tomb so that the coffin was placed in
it vertically. The tomb opening system is also ingenious; a handle is attached
to the dice and, when activated, opens the lock, turns the dice and slowly
makes the lid slide open.
Not
for a moment imagining he was trying to outwit the grim reaper, the prosperous
Spanish coffee trader Francisco Mantero donated 70 percent of his fortune to the
charity of Santa Casa de Misericórdia and his body to science. Owner of the fabulous
Quintas das Conchas e dos Lilases in Lisbon, Mantero suffered from a
degenerative disease and was buried in two stages: first, his torso, and then
his head. The mausoleum of the Mantero Family is still under the care of the Santa
Casa. It stands out for the beautiful Byzantine-style mosaic at the top of the
façade showing the image of a Christ Pantocrator, with his hand in the position
of blessing. Inside, you can see two tombs, a larger one with the merchant's
body and a smaller one, where his head was buried.
There
are also those who, whilst still alive, wished to keep their eye on their inevitable future. The
tomb of the cocoa merchant José Luís Constantino Dias, the Viscount of Valle
Flor, was built in one of the highest parts of Prazeres. “So it could be seen
by the viscount from his mansion, almost two kilometers from the cemetery, in
Alto de Santo Amaro”, says Licínio. The tomb is the second largest in the
Cemitério dos Prazeres, only smaller than the pyramid of the Duke of Palmela.
The palace from where the viscount viewed his current home is now the luxurious
Pestana Palace and its architecture served as the inspiration for the
mausoleum, a kind of miniature version of it. Unlike the Palace, which is now a
hotel, the tomb only has spaces for 64 guests.
A
plot in Prazeres is not for ordinary mortals. Currently, there are generally
vacancies in the plots reserved for writers (I therefore live in hope) and
also for actors, agents of the Polícia de Segurança Pública and firefighters.
“Although the burial concession is a prerogative of the city council, customarily
the appropriate professional association contacts the administration and requests the plot”,
explains Licínio. The area for firefighters
is the oldest of the occupational plots in the cemetery. It dates from 1878 and
was designed by Dias da Silva, the architect responsible for Lisbon’s bull
ring, the Campo Pequeno. There were a few victims of the current pandemic laid
to rest in Prazeres, a continuation of the original purpose of the necropolis, which
was created to deal with the cholera epidemic that swept Lisbon in 1833.
Before
then, burials in the city took place in consecrated ground, in or around
churches. A royal prohibition of intramural interment in churches, on health
grounds, led to the creation of cemeteries. A site on the high ground overlooking
Alcântara in the west of the capital, was one of the natural choices for a new cemetery, partly
because burials already took place there at the hermitage of Nossa Senhora dos
Prazeres, next to a holy well whose waters had been credited with healing
properties since the 16th century. Today
the holy well is a forgotten fountain on Possidónio da Silva street. The
hermitage chapel was sold at the beginning of the 20th century and converted
into a tavern but despite this the name lives on, bequeathed to the nearby
cemetery.
For
those who have never written a book, trodden the boards on stage, arrested a
criminal or extinguished a fire, the alternative is to compete for a abandoned
tomb. Licínio stops in front of one of them, on avenue number 1, under the
shade of leafy cypresses. It belongs to the family of Comendador José Pereira
Soares. A pinned notice announces that it is considered abandoned and will soon
be available for public auction. Article 66 of the Municipal Cemeteries’ Regulations
considers any mausoleum abandoned where the current owners or their whereabouts
are unknown or they have not exercised their rights for a period of at least 15
years. “After the plots are identified, the administration puts up a public
notice and the owners have 60 days to contact us. Otherwise, the tomb is
declared abandoned”, says Licínio. The Comendador's tomb will be among the 30 plots
that will go up for auction but no date has been set yet. It is a small chapel
style mausoleum with space for up to eight occupants. It is well located; the
poet Fernando Pessoa was as a neighbour for a few years (until he was exhumed
and reinterred in the Jerónimos monastery in Belem). “It's a mixed model,” says
Licínio, “which can easily cost 30 thousand euros.” He does the arithmetic in
his head, basing it on the assumption that the last one of the same size sold
for 26 thousand. The laborious calculation of the value of a tomb or mausoleum,
involves the area (not just on the surface, but also the depth), the state of
conservation and the typology. The simplest ones, with only one stone frame –
the “needle” type – enclose the dead underground. In the “chapel” model of
mausoleum, the occupants are interred above ground, while in the “mixed”, as
the name suggests, there are interments above ground and burials in a vault.
Despite
the light rain, a couple calmly walks their baby among the tombstones. Licínio
watches the pram go over a crossroads, one of many that intersect the 52 avenues in
the Cemitério dos Prazeres. “The city of the dead is a mirror of the city of
the living”, the administrator observes, as he guides us to the viewing point,
at the far end of the cemetery, a small patio with an open view to the Tagus
and the 25 de Abril bridge. An empty wine bottle suggests that the living have
been here, contemplating the sight of the dead. Our guide confirms that, like
other famous cemeteries in the world, Prazeres is often frequented by those who
haven't yet kicked the bucket. Licínio cites the example of Père-Lachaise, in Paris, where fans make pilgrimages
from all over the world just to take a drink next to the tombs where their idols
rest, or try to rest, during their
eternal sleep. The mention of the Parisian cemetery is no accident. “Père-Lachaise
was the template at the time the cemetery was built, and served as a
direct inspiration. In a way, Prazeres is a slightly smaller version of the
Parisian cemetery”, says the historian who whilst on holiday, usually spends at
least one day of his trip touring of the cemeteries of the cities he visits.
“There is always something to learn”, he explains. Mirroring itself on a Parisian
cemetery did not stop Prazeres developing its own character. For example, the
mausoleums in the shape of Portuguese houses, decorated with azulejos on the
facade, windows and eaves and threshing floors on the roof; a style of funerary
architecture quite popular in the middle of the last century and found only
here.
What
he learned and still learns about life among the dead Licínio Fidalgo shares
with the thousands of people who in recent years have also dedicated a few
hours to strolling amongst the tombs. He and Gisela Monteiro, a mathematician
who recalculated her career path and now assists him at the cemetery, are
responsible for various guided tours that take place at least once a month in
Prazeres. These tours are free, the itineraries are published monthly on the on
the city council website. With an average customer rating of 4.5 on Tripadvisor
, the tours range from an overview of the cemetery to more specialised tours dedicated
to the writers, musicians and women buried there, and to Freemasonry. One of
the most popular is the Fernando Pessoa tour, an illustrious guest of Prazeres,
until he was moved to Jerónimos, in 1985. The poet's mother, Dionizia, and his
great love, Ofélia Queiroz, however, are still here. There is also a tour of the most impressive funerary art; the arcane
symbology carved onto tombs is enough to make Dan Brown envious - inverted
torches, thread cut by scissors, broken columns - no ornament is by chance.
“When most of the tombs were built, a large part of the population was
illiterate. The symbols help those who cannot read to identify who is there,
what they did and even how they died”, explains Licínio. The inverted torch,
for example, symbolizes the extinguished flame of life, just like the scissor that cuts a thread. The broken column indicates a person who died prematurely.
The beautiful female statues on top of the tombs are also representative: if they
hold an anchor, they are Hope; a cross and a book, Faith; while the one surrounded
by several children is Charity.
The
tour of the Cemitério dos Prazeres ends where it started, in the large
courtyard at the entrance. Before we finish there is still time for Licínio to
indicate his last improvement: a plaque with the emblem of Sporting Lisbon on
the tomb of José de Alvalade, the founder of the club. “Despite being a Benfica
supporter, I thought it was absurd not to see a mention of our great rival in
the cemetery. There are Benfica crests in several parts of the cemetery”, he tells
me. Licínio got in touch, via some
friends of friends, with the current president of Sporting, Frederico Varandas
and, at the end of October, he represented the club at a simple ceremony to install
the Sporting emblem on the tomb of its founding member. All thanks to a
benfiquista.
To
cover the challenges of managing a necropolis – from maintenance to football
heritage – Licínio has just 14 employees. “I really need twice as many,” he
acknowledges. Apart from gravediggers, where he could easily take seven more; but it's not
easy to recruit. “It's a demanding job emotionally and physically. Have you
ever thought about what it's like to bury a dead person weighing 200 kilos?” The
remuneration, however, is below the national minimum wage. The emotional costs
are also heavy, and not just because of the constant contact with the grief of
those saying their final goodbyes to loved ones. Sometimes there are incidents
that call for coolness. “One day, a man who was attending his sister's funeral
got sick, had a heart attack and died”, recalls Licínio, of the day he was
expecting just one dead person and ended up with two. Despite conveniently being already
in a cemetery, the second deceased was buried in another necropolis. Faced with
constant challenges, the mayor of the immense city of the dead knows that it
is impossible to please everyone, alive or not. We wanted to know if Licínio had
a tomb reserved for himself in the territory he administers. "Of course
not. And if I did, what if my successor had some reason to complain about my
management?” he laughs, with the usual good humor, of someone who knows better
than anyone, that everybody is going to be dead one day, you just have to give them time.
Alvaro Filho
