Roques Blanques is a contender for the Best Cemetery in Spain award

The funeral magazine Adiós organizes the first contest to select the best cemeteries in Spain

The Sant Sebastià Cemetery in Sitges is also a finalist in the Best Sculpture category of the same competition

Voting is open online at revistaadios.es until September 30

September 2014.- The Cementiri Comarcal Parc de Roques Blanques, located in Papiol, is a finalist in the overall Best Cemetery category in the first cemetery contest in Spain organized by the magazine Adiós, a publication specializing in funeral topics. Various cemeteries from across Spain entered the competition, but only ten from each of the three categories reached the final: Best Cemetery, Best Architectural Monument, and Best Sculpture. The Sant Sebastià Municipal Cemetery in Sitges is also a finalist in the Best Sculpture category. Both cemeteries, which are publicly owned, are managed by Àltima, a funeral group with over 300 years of experience in the industry.

Other Catalan cemeteries that are finalists in the contest’s categories include Montjuïc and Poblenou in Barcelona, and Reus. They are competing with other cemeteries from Madrid, Cantabria, Andalusia, Basque Country, Navarra, Valencia, Aragon, and Galicia.

Voting to select the best cemetery in each category is open to everyone until September 30 via the magazine's website: www.revistaadios.es.

Roques Blanques, a modern cemetery committed to the environment

Located at the foot of the Collserola mountain range in Papiol (Baix Llobregat), the Cementiri Comarcal Parc de Roques Blanques is unique in Spain for its characteristics. Designed by architects and landscapers Batlle i Roig and a finalist for the FAD architecture awards, the site was inaugurated in 1984 with an aesthetic that perfectly integrates funeral structures with nature, mimicking cemeteries in Central Europe, without columbarium streets and prioritizing ground burials.

With an area of 50 hectares, Roques Blanques has been characterized since its inception by carrying out environmentally respectful initiatives that are pioneering in Spain. In this regard, it features innovative ecological alternatives for the burial of ashes, such as the Forest of Calm and Family Trees, to meet the growing demand for cremation. These burial options allow for the planting of an indigenous tree—oak, cork oak, or pine—and bury up to five biodegradable urns next to it. This original initiative has also contributed to the reforestation of a part of the Collserola forest that was burned years ago. Additionally, Roques Blanques features the Garden and Rest Fountain, a Zen-style space that allows for the controlled scattering of ashes and the management of non-ecological urns, thereby preventing their abandonment in natural spaces.

Besides these ecological burial options, Roques Blanques conducts various initiatives to promote the protection of threatened native flora and fauna—such as bats, amphibians, dark hedgehogs, and common squirrels—energy resource conservation (reduction of water and paper consumption), pollution prevention, and reduction of environmental impacts (waste recycling, control of furnace emissions, promotion of controlled logging wood for coffins). Roques Blanques also recommends the use of natural flowers that can be recycled as compost to visitors.

Sitges, a typically Mediterranean cemetery where you can admire modernist funeral art

The Sant Sebastià Municipal Cemetery in Sitges, next to the beach of the same name, is a unique spot to admire several burials that are true works of art from Catalan modernism. Inaugurated in 1814, the cemetery features monumental graves of the "americanos" or "indianos," families who went to America to make their fortunes in the 19th century. Art enthusiasts will find at Sant Sebastià one of the most relevant funeral heritages from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with works by artists such as Josep Llimona, Frederic Marès, Manuel Fuxà, Agapit Vallmitjana, Alexandre Mariotti, and Pere Jou.