New Terrassa Cemetery

The New Terrassa Cemetery (Catalan: Nou Cementiri de Terrassa) is the city's main burial ground, established in the early 1930s to replace an older municipal cemetery that could no longer keep pace with a growing industrial town. Beyond its ongoing function, the site is recognized today as a work of architectural and historical merit, protected under local heritage law.

When was the cemetery built?

The decision to build a new cemetery dates to 1926, when Terrassa's older burial ground had become saturated. The chosen site sat on land belonging to the former Can Torrella del Mas estate. Construction began in 1928, and the cemetery was formally inaugurated on 1 November 1932 — All Saints' Day, a date choice that gave the opening particular symbolic weight.

Who designed the cemetery?

The project was led by Melcior Viñals i Muñoz, Terrassa's municipal architect at the time, whose body of work sits at the crossroads of modernisme and noucentisme, the Catalan architectural current that paired classicizing discipline with local craft traditions. Joan Baca i Reixach and Joan Baca i Pericot are also recorded as having taken part in the project. The cemetery's sculptural decoration involved several recognized Catalan artists of the period, turning the grounds into something of an open-air museum of funerary art.

What does the layout look like?

The cemetery follows an irregular plan shaped by the site's terrain. Visitors enter through a compact but striking monumental gateway, built from two stepped base sections crowned by an obelisk — a form typical of 1930s funerary architecture. From the entrance, an axis of symmetry runs directly to the cemetery chapel, giving the whole layout a coherent, processional character.

What makes the chapel notable?

The chapel draws stylistically on Sezession (Viennese Secession) influences, with a square floor plan topped by a dome. The interior of the dome is decorated with mosaics by Santiago Padrós, a detail that sets the building apart from typical cemetery chapels in the region and draws particular interest from visitors curious about early 20th-century sacred art.

Why is the cemetery legally protected?

Given its architectural and historical value as a unified ensemble, the New Terrassa Cemetery is listed as a Cultural Property of Local Interest (Bé Cultural d'Interès Local) in Catalonia's heritage register. That protection covers the entrance gate and chapel as well as the overall spatial layout, treated as a single coherent urban and architectural composition.

Where does the name "New" come from?

The "New" in the cemetery's name distinguishes it from Terrassa's earlier municipal cemetery, which was eventually dismantled. That older cemetery nonetheless left a lasting mark on the city's map: the Cementiri Vell ("Old Cemetery") neighborhood, located elsewhere in Terrassa, takes its name directly from it.

Frequently asked questions

Can the cemetery be visited? Yes. As a recognized heritage site, it is open to visitors, and local institutions occasionally organize guided tours focused on its history and architecture.

How old is the cemetery? Counting from its 1932 inauguration, it has been in continuous use for more than ninety years.

Is it the only cemetery in Terrassa? No — an older municipal cemetery existed previously, and its memory survives in the name of the Cementiri Vell district, but the New Cemetery is the city's main active burial ground today.