The Cemetery of Dissidents is a cemetery located on the Panteón hill, in front of the Cemetery nº 1 and at one side of the old city jail (now a cultural center) in

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It was created in 1825 to hold the remains of the British and other Europeans residents, whose Protestant faith differed from the official state religion at the time; Roman Catholicism. In the early 19th century, immigrants to Valparaíso who were not Catholic were forbidden from being buried in Catholic cemeteries; as such, they were buried on Playa Ancha hill, or simply thrown into the sea. In 1823 British consul George Seymour, with the aid of mayor Robert Simpson, bought some land at one side of the city jail, to build a special cemetery for "dissidents" (i.e. those who did not adhere to the Catholic faith.) The cemetery is divided into eight sections and has nearly 800 graves. Most of the burials belong to immigrants of British, German and American origin. Inside Cemetery No. 1, there is a monument dedicated to the American sailors who died during the 1814

Battle of Valparaiso A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, when the USS ''

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

'' was captured by the English ships ''Cherub'' and ''Phoebe''. There is also a monument dedicated to Reverend David Trumbull, founder of the Presbyterian Church of the city. In 1883, religious discrimination in municipal cemeteries was abolished. Until that year, the Cemetery of Dissidents also housed non-Catholics who had died in other cities such as

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

and La Serena. The cemetery suffered damages in the

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

and

2010 earthquakes Earthquakes in 2010 resulted in nearly 165,000 fatalities. Most of these were due to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, which caused an estimated 160,000 deaths, making it the List of natural disasters by death toll#Earthquakes, 11th deadliest earthquake ...

. Renovations in 2011 subsequently included a new memorial "Plaza of the immigrant".

References

{{coord, 33, 2, 42.94, S, 71, 37, 30.14, W, type:mountain, display=title Buildings and structures in Valparaíso Cemeteries in Chile Buildings and structures in Valparaíso Region Tourist attractions in Valparaíso Region Protestant Reformed cemeteries Anglican cemeteries in South America Lutheran cemeteries Protestantism in Chile