Igualada Cemetery or New Cemetery (Catalan: Cementiri Nou) is a cemetery in Igualada, near Barcelona,

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, designed by the architects Enric Miralles and

Carme Pinós Carme Pinós (born 1954) is a Spanish architect. Biography Pinós graduated Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB) in Barcelona in 1979 and returned to the school in 1981 to study Urbanism. From 1982 on she formed a part ...

after winning an architectural competition in 1984. Constructed between 1985 and 1994 as a replacement for the Old Cemetery (Catalan: "Cementiri Vell"), the cemetery became widely regarded as one of the most poetic works of twentieth century Catalan architecture. Enric Miralles, who died in the year 2000 is buried in one of the tombs.Strum p.13.2

Architectural concept

Miralles and Pinós were concerned, not just to design a cemetery, but to explore poetic ideas regarding the acceptance of the cycle of life to enable a link between the past, the present, and the future.Zabalbeascoa The project is conceived, in part, as an earthwork that transforms the surrounding landscape and also, in part, as a metaphor for the river of life. A processional "street" descends from the entrance, where crossed, rusting, steel poles doubling as gates and likened to the crosses at

Calvary Calvary ( la, Calvariae or ) or Golgotha ( grc-gre, Γολγοθᾶ, ''Golgothâ'') was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early mediev ...

,Quiros, MaKenzie, McMurray - Architecture of time
/ref> proclaim the start of a winding pathway towards the burial area. The route is lined with repeatable concrete

loculi Loculi ( sc, Lòcula) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari and about northeast of Nuoro. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 538 and an area of . ...

forming retaining walls and the floor of the path has railway sleepers set into its concrete surface.Strum p.13.2 The intention was to bring the bereaved down into the landscape to a 'city of the dead', an in between place where the dead and the living are brought closer together. The spaces are designed to provoke thoughts and memories.

Critique and influence

Zabalbeascoa sees Miralles's work in general, and the cemetery in particular, as being architecture "which 'naturally' adapts itself to a given site" but cannot be termed simply organic architecture. His work is "more than simply interpreting the programme

rief Rief is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Josef Rief (born 1960), German politician * Winfried Rief Winfried Rief (* 12. Mai 1959) is a German psychologist. Since 2000 he has been a professor of clinical psychology and psy ...

or observing a site's geographical landscape, however attentively, his architecture explores pre-existing traces in the cultural landscape of each project." The cemetery can thus be considered as architecture of the land that involves a humanisation of the

brief Brief, briefs, or briefing may refer to: Documents * A letter * A briefing note * Papal brief, a papal letter less formal than a bull, sealed with the pope's signet ring or stamped with the device borne on this ring * Design brief, a type of educ ...

and appreciation of the

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

- that is, the visible, physical land as well as the memories contained within it. This is seen by Zabalbeascoa in contrast to the particular form of

critical regionalism Critical regionalism is an approach to architecture that strives to counter the placelessness and lack of identity of the International Style, but also rejects the whimsical individualism and ornamentation of Postmodern architecture. The stylings ...

which prevailed in the Spanish architectural scene of the 1970s which had tended towards a more sentimental or scenographic type of architecture.Zabalbeascoa p.9 "What sort of cultural landscape is it, in other words, that takes up sides with nature against the monumentalist enterprise of culture, especially when it was to offer visitors an intimation of immortality? ...... t isone that redefines the terms, such that nature is no longer understood as the unproblematic opposite of culture, death no longer the mere antithesis of life."Robinson, Joel D (2005) ''Cultural landscapes in the 21st century'' paper presented to UNESCO
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Notes

References

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External links

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Cemeteries in Catalonia Buildings and structures completed in 1994 Enric Miralles buildings Igualada