Central Cemetery
Bogotá’s Central Cemetery is a city unto itself, with some 22,000 tombs. The famous – businessmen, ex-presidents and national heroes – are buried in the center, and common people on the sides. The cemetery is unusual because most of the (common) graves are rented, not owned. Remains are placed in tombs for four years and then removed and cremated or reburied in another cemetery. Unlike the presidency, there is no second term.
One of the most famous graves is that of Leo Siegfried Kopp, a German-Jewish immigrant who founded the Bavaria Beer Company. Kopp gained fame for being a generous employer, and his tomb is topped by a golden-appearing bronze sculpture of him. On Sundays and Mondays people line up to whisper in Mr. Kopp’s bronze ear to ask for favors, especially more just treatment by their bosses.
An armed Saint Peter poised on the cemetery's arch. The Latin text says: 'We expect resurrection of the dead.'
Flowers for sale outside of Bogotá's Central Cemetery
Pres. candidate Luis Carlos Galan was assassinated in 1989 by cocaine king Pablo Escobar
Crypts which the city plans to remove and replace with soccer fields. Artists stenciled the figures carrying stretchers to represent victims of Colombia's violence.
Visitors sometimes ask favors by whispering into the ear of brewery-owner Kopp.
Brewery owner Kopp's statue has become a pilgrimage site for people wanting favors.
Bogota founder Jimenez de Quesada.
Francisco de Paula Santander was an ally and later rival of Simón Bolívar
Rub a 20,000 peso bill against astronomer Garavito's grave, and your money will multiply - they say!
Communist Party leader Gilberto Vieira White.
