In the western part of Porto, there is a cemetery that the Porto City Council describes as “one of the most important romantic cemeteries in the country.” The Agramonte Cemetery opened in 1855, in the midst of a cholera epidemic, and today it is the final resting place of some of the greatest figures in Porto’s cultural history.
Who Is Buried in Agramonte
Among the best-known names is that of Manoel de Oliveira. The filmmaker died on April 2, 2015, at the age of 106, and his funeral was held in Agramonte, according to the Observador.
Also buried there is cellist Guilhermina Suggia, as well as painter António Carneiro, photographer Emílio Biel, and writer Júlio Dinis, according to the Porto City Council and Open House Porto.
Every year, between May and September, the City Council organizes guided tours of Agramonte as part of the Porto Cemeteries Cultural Cycle, with online registration.
A cemetery hastily opened
In the mid-19th century, cholera struck Porto with renewed force. The dead had to be buried quickly, and the city hastily built a new municipal cemetery that, in its early days, primarily received victims of the epidemic, according to the Association of Significant Cemeteries of Europe. It thus became Porto’s second public cemetery.
Today, the municipal cemetery covers about 12 hectares. The main chapel was expanded in 1906, in a project led by architect Marques da Silva, and several tombs feature works by Soares dos Reis and António Teixeira Lopes. One of the best-known monuments is the one commemorating the victims of the 1888 Baquet Theater fire.
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