Alto de São João Cemetery (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: ''Cemitério do Alto de São João'') is the largest cemetery in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, located in the ''

freguesia ''Freguesia'' (), usually translated as "parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the 1976 Constitution. It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Port ...

'' (civil parish) of

Penha de França Penha may refer to: Places *Penha, Santa Catarina Penha is a municipality in Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, Brazil. It had a population of 33,284 and an area of 57.752km² as of 2020. Its two largest attractions are its beaches and Bet ...

, in eastern Lisbon (formerly, within the parish of São João). Similar to

Prazeres Cemetery Prazeres Cemetery ( pt, Cemitério dos Prazeres) is one of the largest cemeteries in Lisbon, Portugal; it is located in the '' freguesia'' (civil parish) of Estrela, in western Lisbon (formerly, within the parish of Prazeres). It is considered ...

, it is the resting place for many prominent figures, from

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

the arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

, from

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politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

, from

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

, side by side with anonymous citizens who are buried and cremated there. The cemetery is public and receives residents from several ''freguesias'' in the capital. The cemetery is composed of

mausoleums A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consi ...

, temporary and perpetual

graves A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as gravey ...

crypts A crypt (from Latin '' crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chu ...

ossuaries An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the ...

and

columbaria A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "'' colu ...

. Also noteworthy are the Crypt of

Combatants Combatant is the legal status of an individual who has the right to engage in hostilities during an armed conflict. The legal definition of "combatant" is found at article 43(2) of Additional Protocol I (AP1) to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It ...

of the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

of the Tarrafal concentration camp victims.

History

Alto de São João Cemetery was founded in 1833 after the outbreak of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

in the city, along with Prazeres Cemetery. It was originally named ''Cemitério Oriental de Lisboa'' (Eastern Cemetery of Lisbon). The country's first

crematorium A crematorium or crematory is a venue for the cremation of the dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a crematorium can also be ...

was built here in 1925, but would eventually cease to operate for political and religious reasons in 1936. It only resumed operation in 1985 after pressure from the city's

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

community. There have already been cremated several public figures such as

José Saramago José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE ComSE GColCa (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), was a Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony ith which heco ...

, Nobel Literature laureate and

Álvaro Cunhal Álvaro Barreirinhas Cunhal (; 10 November 1913 – 13 June 2005) was a Portuguese communist revolutionary and politician. He was one of the major opponents of the dictatorial regime of the '' Estado Novo''. He served as secretary-general of the P ...

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

politician and minister in the first four provisional governments after the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...

. Famed

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

Eça de Queiroz José Maria de Eça de Queiroz (; 25 November 1845 – 16 August 1900) is generally considered to have been the greatest Portuguese writer in the realist style. Zola considered him to be far greater than Flaubert. In the London ''Observer'', ...

was buried at Alto de São João Cemetery prior to his reinterment in his family mausoleum in

Baião Municipality Baião may refer to: *Baião (music) *Baião, Portugal, a municipality in northern Portugal *Baião, Pará Baião, Pará is a municipality in the state of Pará in the Northern region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Pará This i ...

Gallery

File:Capela do Cemitério do Alto de São João 2017-08-26.png, Cemetery church plaza File:Cripta dos Combatentes 2017-08-26.png, Crypt of Combatants of the Great War File:Jazigo dos Viscondes de Valmor 2017-08-26 (cropped).png, Viscount of Valmor mausoleum File:Jazigo da Casa da Carnota 2017-08-26.png, Count of Carnota mausoleum File:Jazigo de Mateo Benito Garcia 2017-08-26.png, Mateo Benito Garcia mausoleum File:Jazigo de Miguel Bombarda e de Cândido dos Reis 2017-08-26.png,

Miguel Bombarda Miguel Augusto Bombarda (6 March 1851 – 3 October 1910) was a Portuguese physician, psychiatrist, and politician. He is perhaps most widely remembered as one of the major conspirators of the 5 October 1910 revolution, although he was shot and ...

and Cândido dos Reis mausoleum File:Jazigo Comendador João Ferreira dos Santos 2017-08-26.png, Commander João Ferreira dos Santos mausoleum File:Jazigo de José Elias Garcia 2017-08-26.png, José Elias Garcia mausoleum

Notable burials or cremations

Adelaide Cabete Adelaide Cabete Adelaide Cabete (25 January 1867, Elvas – 14 September 1935), was a Portuguese feminist and republican. In 1909, with Ana de Castro Osorio she created the Republican League of Portuguese Women. She was the founder of the Portug ...

(1867-1935), physician, teacher and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

activist * Adelina Abranches (1866-1945), theater actress *

Adelino da Palma Carlos Adelino da Palma Carlos, GCC, GCIH, GOL (; Faro, 3 May 1905 – Lisbon, 25 October 1992), was a Portuguese lawyer, scholar, politician and a freemason, one of at least five sons of Manuel Carlos and wife Auta Vaz Velho da Palma. He was a ...

(1905-1992), 102nd

Prime Minister of Portugal The prime minister of Portugal ( pt, primeiro-ministro; ) is the head of government of Portugal. As head of government, the prime minister coordinates the actions of ministers, represents the Government of Portugal to the other bodies of state, ...

Agostinho da Silva George Agostinho Baptista da Silva, GCSE (; Porto, 13 February 1906 – Lisbon, 3 April 1994) was a Portuguese philosopher, essayist, and writer. His thought combines elements of pantheism and millenarism, an ethic of renunciation (like in Bu ...

(1906-1994), philosopher, essayist and writer *

Alfredo Luís da Costa Alfredo Luís da Costa (24 November 1883 – 1 February 1908) was a Portuguese publicist, editor, journalist, shop assistant and salesman who was part of the Portuguese Carbonária and a Mason, best remembered for being one of the two assassins (w ...

(1883-1908), perpetrator of the

Lisbon Regicide The Lisbon Regicide or Regicide of 1908 ( pt, Regicídio de 1908) was the assassination of King Carlos I of Portugal and the Algarves and his heir-apparent, Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, by assassins sympathetic to Republican interests ...

(1913-2005), politician, writer and

activist *

Alves dos Reis Artur Virgílio Alves Reis (Lisbon, 8 September 1896 – 9 July 1955) was a Portuguese criminal who perpetrated one of the largest frauds in history, against the Bank of Portugal in 1925, often called the Portuguese Bank Note Crisis. Early li ...

(1886-1955), entrepreneur *

Ana de Castro Osório Ana de Castro Osório (18 June 1872 – 23 March 1935) was a Portuguese feminist, active in the field of children's literature and political Republicanism. Early life Osório was born into a well-off family on 18 June 1872, her mother being Mari ...

(1872-1935), physician, teacher, writer, journalist and feminist activist *

António Botto António Botto ( Concavada, Portugal, August 17, 1897 – Rio de Janeiro, March 16, 1959) was a Portuguese aesthete and lyricist poet. Early life António Thomaz Botto was born 17 August 1897 at 8:00 a.m. to Maria Pires Agudo and Francis ...

(1897-1959), poet *

António Champalimaud António de Sommer Champalimaud ( Lapa, Lisbon, 19 March 1918 – Lapa, Lisbon, 8 May 2004) was a Portuguese banker and industrialist in 2004. He was the wealthiest man in Portugal, he earned his fortune with insurance, banking, iron ore min ...

(1918-2004), banker and industrialist *

António da Silva Porto António Francisco Ferreira da Silva Porto (24 August 1817 – 2 April 1890) was a Portuguese trader and explorer in Angola, in the Portuguese West Africa. Biography Silva Porto was born to a poor family in Porto in continental Portugal; h ...

(1850-1893), painter *

António de Almeida Santos Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

(1926-2016), lawyer, politician and

government minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

António de Spínola António Sebastião Ribeiro de Spínola (generally referred to as António de Spínola, ;This surname, however, was not accompanied by the grammatical nobiliary particle "de". 11 April 1910 – 13 August 1996) was a Portuguese military off ...

(1910-1996), 14th

President of Portugal The president of Portugal, officially the president of the Portuguese Republic ( pt, Presidente da República Portuguesa, ), is the head of state and highest office of Portugal. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, an ...

António Granjo António Joaquim Granjo (27 December 1881 – 19 October 1921; ) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who served twice as prime minister during 1920 and 1921, until his assassination. Biography Granjo was born in Chaves.Already a committed ...

(1881-1921), lawyer and politician *

António José de Almeida António José de Almeida, GCTE, GCA, GCC, GCSE (; 27 July 1866 – 31 October 1929), was a Portuguese politician who served as the sixth president of Portugal from 1919 to 1923. Early career Born in Penacova to José António de Almeida ...

(1866-1929), 6th President of Portugal * António Machado Santos (1875-1921),

Navy officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contextu ...

and politician * António Maria Lisboa (1928-1953), poet *

Ary dos Santos José Carlos Ary dos Santos, GCIH or just Ary dos Santos ( Lisboa, December 7, 1936 – Lisboa, January 18, 1984) was one of the most relevant names of the Portuguese popular poetry of the 20th century. Born of a bourgeois family, Ary dos Sa ...

(1936-1984), poet * Bana (1932-2013), cape verdean singer *

Eduarda Lapa Eduarda Lapa (1895 — 1976) was a painter and painting teacher who specialized in naturalist painting, especially still life, becoming known as the "flower painter" and the "ambassador of colours". An active feminist, she was the first woman to j ...

(1895-1976), painter * Emília das Neves (1820-1883), theater actress *

Ernesto Hintze Ribeiro Ernesto Rodolfo Hintze Ribeiro (Ponta Delgada, Azores, 7 November 1849 – Lisbon, 1 August 1907) was a Portuguese politician, statesman, and nobleman from the Azores, who served as Prime Minister of Portugal three times, during King Carlos I's ...

(1850-1907), 43rd, 45th and 47th Prime Minister of Portugal *

Fernando Chalana Fernando Albino de Sousa Chalana (; 10 February 1959 – 10 August 2022) was a Portuguese football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest talents of his era in Portuguese football, the diminutive left winger's main asset was ...

(1959-2022), football player and manager * Filinto Elísio (1734-1819), poet *

Francisco da Costa Gomes Francisco da Costa Gomes, ComTE, GOA (; 30 June 1914 – 31 July 2001) was a Portuguese military officer and politician, the 15th president of Portugal (the second after the Carnation Revolution). Life He was one of the eleven children of A ...

(1914-2001), 15th President of Portugal * Helena Vaz da Silva (1939-2002), journalist *

João Vaz João José Vaz (9 March 1859, in Setúbal – 17 February 1931, in Lisbon) was a Portuguese painter and decorator who specialized in maritime subjects. Biography In 1872, he enrolled at the "Academia das Belas-Artes" (now part of the Unive ...

(1859-1931), painter * John Smith Athelstane (1816-1883), writer and diplomat *

Jorge Sampaio Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio (; 18 September 1939 – 10 September 2021) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who was the 18th president of Portugal from 1996 to 2006. A member of the Socialist Party, a party which he led between 1989 an ...

(1939-2021), 18th President of Portugal *

José Mário Branco José Mário Branco (25 May 1942 – 19 November 2019) was a Portuguese singer-songwriter, actor, and record producer. Biography José Mário Branco was born in Porto, the son of primary school teachers, and became politically involved in the ...

(1942-2019), singer, songwriter and composer *

José Pinheiro de Azevedo José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

(1917-1983), 104th Prime Minister of Portugal *

José Rodrigues José Rodrigues de Carvalho (16 July 1828 – 19 October 1887) was a Portuguese painter. '' O Pobre Rabequista'' (''The poor rabequista''), painted in 1855 and considered Rodriques' most famous work, was first shown in Paris at the Universal E ...

(1828-1887), painter *

José Rodrigues Miguéis José Rodrigues Miguéis (9 December 1901, Lisbon – 27 October 1980, New York) was a Portuguese translator and writer. Biography Born to a middle-class family in the Alfama neighborhood of Lisbon, he was originally expected to have a career in ...

(1901-1980), writer *

(1922-2010), Nobel winning writer *

José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage (2 May 1823 – 3 November 1907) was a Portuguese zoologist and politician. He was the curator of Zoology at the Museu Nacional de Lisboa in Lisbon. He published numerous works on mammals, birds, and fishes. In t ...

(1823-1907), zoologist and politician *

Manuel Buíça Manuel dos Reis da Silva Buíça (31 December 1875 – 1 February 1908) was a Portuguese schoolteacher and soldier involved in the regicide of King Carlos I of Portugal and Prince Royal, Luís Filipe, during the events that became known as the Li ...

(1876-1908), perpetrator of the Lisbon Regicide *

Manuel Gomes da Costa Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa , commonly known as Manuel Gomes da Costa () or just Gomes da Costa (14 January 1863 – 17 December 1929), was a Portuguese army officer and politician, the tenth president of Portugal and the second of ...

(1863-1929), 10th President of Portugal *

Maria Clara Correia Alves Maria Clara Correia Alves (18691948) was a Portuguese feminist. She was one of the founders of the National Council of Portuguese Women in 1914 and both the Secretary-General of the Council and the editor of its newsletter from 1914 to 1920. Ear ...

(1869-1948), writer, journalist, teacher and feminist activist *

Maria João Abreu Maria João Gonçalves Abreu Soares (Lisbon, Lisboa, 14 April 1964 – Almada, 13 May 2021), known as Maria João Abreu, was a Portuguese film, television and stage actress. Her most notable works include Portuguese TV series ''Médico de Famíl ...

(1964-2021), actress *

Maria Matos Maria de Conceição de Matos Ferreira da Silva (29 September 1886 – 19 September 1952) was a Portuguese actress and theatre personality. Career Matos studied piano, singing and dramatic art at the Royal Conservatory of Lisbon, and for her fin ...

(1886-1952), actress and stage director * Maria Severa (1820-1846),

Fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado was ...

singer and guitarist *

Maria Veleda Maria Veleda, the pseudonym widely used by Maria Carolina Frederico Crispin (1871–1955), was a Portuguese educator, journalist and activist. One of the most effective early feminists in Portugal, she fought for the rights of women factory worker ...

(1871-1955), journalist, teacher and feminist activist *

(1851-1910), physician, psychiatrist and politician *

Nicolau Breyner João Nicolau de Melo Breyner Moreira Lopes GOIH GOM (30 July 1940 – 14 March 2016), better known as Nicolau Breyner, was a Portuguese actor, screenwriter, producer, director and television host. He was one of the most well-known figures i ...

(1940-2016), actor, stage director and playwright *

Palmira Bastos Palmira Bastos (1875–1967) was one of the best-known Portuguese stage actresses in the first half of the 20th century. Early life Maria da Conceição Martínez (Martins) de Sousa Bastos was born on 30 May 1875, in the municipality of Alenquer, ...

(1875-1967), actress and stage director * Stella Piteira Santos (1917-2009), anti-fascist activist *

Vasco Gonçalves General Vasco dos Santos Gonçalves OA (; Lisbon 3 May 1921 – 11 June 2005) was a Portuguese army officer in the Engineering Corps who took part in the Carnation Revolution and later served as the 104th Prime Minister from 18 July 1974 to ...

(1921-2005), 103rd Prime Minister of Portugal

References

External links

{{Commons category, Cemitério do Alto de São João Cemeteries in Portugal Buildings and structures in Lisbon Tourist attractions in Lisbon