Havana’s El Cementerio de Cristóbal Colòn the most fascinating Cemetery in the world 

We were driven in a classic 1950s Buick to the gates of Havana’s Cemetery of Christopher Columbus—a place steeped in history and mystery. Located in the Vedado neighborhood and founded in 1876, this cemetery is renowned worldwide for its stunningly elaborate memorials and over 500 private family mausoleums.

As we walked among the fading grandeur, it was bittersweet to see many of these once-majestic mausoleums broken into, gutted, and left to decay over the years. From my research after returning home, I discovered that plots in Colón Cemetery were assigned strictly by social class. This system allowed Cuba’s wealthiest families to showcase their status through magnificent monuments designed by leading artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Colón Cemetery serves as the final resting place for much of Cuba’s political elite—excluding Fidel Castro—as well as dancers, musicians, baseball legends, world chess champions, composers, a former U.S. Congressman, and even William Lee Brent. Brent, an American Black Panther who hijacked a plane in 1969, defected to Cuba, and lived there for 37 years until his death in 2006.

William Lee Brent

One solemn stop was the mausoleum of the Anglo-American Welfare Association, where two Canadians rest—one a World War I Army officer, the other a Royal Canadian Navy seaman—both casualties of war.

January 2024

Havana’s Colón Cemetery is the second largest cemetery in the world and one of the most historically important, on par with Paris’ Père Lachaise Cemetery. It takes up 56 hectares and is the resting place for over 2 million people.