The cemetery of San Eufrasio. The silenced death
š The cemetery of San Eufrasio as a pending heritage of JaĆ©n
š¬ Reading the title of this article, probably such questions spring to mind: āHow can the cemetery be a cultural monument?ā, āWhy is the cemetery something I want to see when visiting JaĆ©n?ā. Let me by the end of this article change your association with a cemetery and show you what an open history book it can be for the city of JaĆ©n. š
Š¢o introduce you to the topic I suggest you read this great poem written by the jinnense poetess MarĆa Angeles Solis.
The silenced death
(MarĆa Angeles Solis)
Time left its mark
on the silent stones,
and the whistling of the wind
caressed the empty tombs,
flooded with horror
by this imposed oblivion.
To die is not to be dead, to die is to be forgotten.
And those tombs we no longer visit
are keeping the bones
of our ancestors.
Year after year, staring into the emptiness
to which they were condemned.
The mausoleums, saddened,
recite prayers for the children who never cried.
The graves in the ground
embrace every remnant of love
that once bloomed.
Leaning crosses,
broken slabs,
erased names...
Is the silent pain of our cemetery.
Translated by Iliyana Stefanova Yordanova
šLet's start from here...who is San Eufrasio?
Every citizen of JaĆ©n knows, at least by hearsay, San Eufrasio (English: Euphrasius of Illiturgis). Well, San Eufrasio since he was bishop of the city of Andujar in the first century, is considered one of the Seven Apostolic Men. Little is known about this saint, except that he was martyred in the province of JaĆ©n and his remains were taken to the church of Santa MarĆa do Mao in Lugo. Perhaps the story most closely related to this saint is having brought from Rome, the relic of Santo Rostro (English: Veil of Veronica) to JaĆ©n.
*For more information about San Eufrasio and the relic of Santo Rostro you can check our article about the JaƩn Cathedral.
šThe cemetery of San Eufrasio
The dedication of the cemetery to San Eufrasio came from the fact that he was the patron saint of the bishopric of JaƩn. The cemetery is the oldest in JaƩn with more than two centuries of history behind its walls.
The tombs, pantheons, and mausoleums have a great historical value and allow us to trace a sketch of the history of JaĆ©n through the memory of the illustrious people buried in the cemetery. Examples include the tomb of Bernardo LĆ³pez with an allegory of poetry. A gravestone in English of the engineer of the Oil train, another modernist tombstone of MartĆnez Molina or another of Egyptian inspiration written in Hebrew of a Jew who died in JaĆ©n, or the tomb of the artist JosĆ© NoguĆ©, who painted his father and his wife on the sepulcher.
šThe 702 pit
In the cemetery of San Eufrasio are buried most of the reprisals of Franco's regime, after the end of, in the province of JaƩn. 1,026 victims are buried in grave 702, located on the right side of the cemetery. An interesting fact is that In 1985 there was an earth movement and hundreds of bodies surfaced; afterwards a 132 square metre platform was built.
