ALL SAINTS DAY – 1st November 2014
It is said that you cannot understand the heart of Soller until you have spent time in its Cemetery. This is a five layered area more like a beautiful public park than a graveyard. Since 1820 this place has buried the remains of the people of Soller and the history and wealth of the area are fully represented in its garden walls. The site chosen at the foothills of the mountain above the station give the dead the view they might have wished for. The glory of the mountains behind and the majesty of the Soller Valley
The Cemetery has been extended a number of times, the last was in 1989. This gives each layer of the place a history all of its own. Did you know that it was as late as 1975 that any non Catholics were buried in their own place near the door away from the main graves of the place. It is here you will still find a cluster of English people alongside Germans and Danes who died here ‘not in the faith’.
The photographs on the graves tell their own story and give a pictorial view of Soller history both in the clothes and hairstyles. The beautiful trees, plants and flowers in this place make it a work of art and many people just go there to sit amongst all the beauty. The sculptures and art work that mark out graves and the edifices of wealthy people are all worthy of a fine museum.
The celebration of ALL SAINTS DAY on Saturday 1stNovember 2014 is the day when Soller remembers its dead. Plants, flowers and daisy pots are taken to the place in their thousands and left at the gravesides. Families drive from other places to be in Soller Cemetery
To be in the Cemetery on this special date is an experience. For a week afterwards while all the flowers are still alive is also very special. The cemetery is the keeper of many secrets and it is easy to let the imagination wander.
Leave Soller square by the Bank of Santander exit and follow signs up the hill to the Cemetery – you will be very glad you did.
