Cementeri de Sant Josep

Cementeri de Sant Josep is a historic cemetery in Castelló de la Plana, inaugurated on 12 May 1861. Its creation reflected the sanitary regulations of the time, which prohibited burials within city limits and forced municipalities to move burial grounds away from churches and residential areas to dedicated sites outside the built-up area. The first burial recorded at the new cemetery was that of Antonia Llop i Ramos.

Why was the cemetery divided by a wall?

For decades the grounds were split into a Catholic section and a civil section, the latter reserved for those not buried under Catholic rite. The 1932 Law of Municipal Cemeteries, known as the secularization law, ordered mayors to merge the two sections without religious distinction. The situation reversed in October 1938, when, as the Francoist side advanced during the Spanish Civil War, the dividing wall was rebuilt. That separation persisted until the arrival of democracy in Spain.

What traces did Francoist repression leave here?

Sant Josep cemetery is also a site of memory tied to the repression of the Francisco Franco dictatorship. Researchers have documented 969 victims from that period buried at the cemetery, 530 of them in common graves within the civil cemetery. In 2016, the Castelló city council, together with the Mixed Company for the New Cemetery of Castelló and a historical memory research group, carried out a dignification project: the wall that once separated the Catholic and civil cemeteries was demolished, the names of repression victims were inscribed, and an information plaque was installed explaining the site's history.

What else is there to see besides the graves?

Sant Josep is more than a burial ground — it functions as a kind of memory museum, preserving notable examples of funerary architecture, ceramic work, and sculpture. Among the artists whose funerary work can be found scattered across the necropolis are Manuel Carrasco and Juan Bautista Adsuara. The decorative details of tombs and family pantheons reflect shifting artistic styles from the 19th century to the present day, and the gravestones themselves narrate the social history of Castelló de la Plana's residents across more than a century and a half.

Where is the cemetery located?

Cementeri de Sant Josep sits within the city of Castelló de la Plana, in the Valencian Community, within easy reach of the city centre.

Frequently asked questions

When did Sant Josep cemetery open? The cemetery was inaugurated on 12 May 1861.

Who was the first person buried there? The first burial was that of Antonia Llop i Ramos.

Why was the cemetery split into Catholic and civil sections? The division stemmed from older regulations separating Catholic burials from civil ones; the wall between the two sections was removed and rebuilt several times depending on the political situation, disappearing for good only with the arrival of democracy.

How many victims of Francoist repression have been documented at the cemetery? 969 victims have been documented, 530 of whom rest in common graves in the former civil cemetery.

Can visitors see works by notable artists at the cemetery? Yes, the necropolis contains work by sculptors and artists such as Manuel Carrasco and Juan Bautista Adsuara.