Vegan Victuals Goes to Spain 🇪🇸 Cementiri de Poblenou, Barcelona -

Cementiri de Poblenou was a big reason for my deciding to go ahead and join a friend in Spain this summer. It was number one on my list of international must-visit cemeteries. This, because of a haunting sculptured entitled El Petó de la Mort or the Kiss of Death I just had to see. Though I collected many shots of this beautiful piece of art, there was much more to see in the historic cemetery.

Vaults like this serve to organize the lay-out of Spain’s cemeteries.

And now a look inside at the stunning art.

Now to El Petó de la Mort. I initially panicked as I walked the lay-out of the cemetery. Many spaces were under construction and because I didn’t find it easily I quickly became frustrated. Luckily the woman standing outside welcoming visitors helped me along, annotating a map for me. A bit of the backstory to this morning was that it was the first day of my car rental. Initially, driving in Barcelona was a challenge that left my tolerance down. In all honesty I was scared that I had made a mistake as it made me susceptible to stress and potential danger. I eventually snapped out of that fear, however. And I felt proud to have overcome it and enriched my trip so greatly.

Here is El Petó de la Mort. The sculpture elicits a variety of interpretations in viewers apparently. But I believe the man is cradled gently by death who supports his body both inside and outside of his limbs, who crouches with great strain to softly kiss the man. Death’s touch does not leave an indent on his arm. They share a draped cloth entwining them together. There is depth to Death’s eye sockets that exude a calm expression and the man’s face is relaxed, content in his helplessness. That is my interpretation.

The inscription reads: “His young heart is thus extinguished. The blood in his veins grows cold. And all strength has gone. Faith has been extolled by his fall into the arms of death. Amen.” This is an excerpt from a poem by Jacint Verdaguer, considered to be an important Catalan poet. (Catalonia is the region of Spain where Barcelona is located. It is designated as an autonomous community and nationality; its flag is well known thanks to FC Barcelona, a famous futbol team that a lot of people are into.)

The impressive marble sculpture, dated 1930, sits at the grave of textile manufacturer Josep Llaudet Soler. Not much is know about who is interred. Some infer that it is the son of the elder Llaudet Soler. Does anyone know?

I waited at the statue for a bit as the clouds move to block the brash sun. I also, intrepidly, scaled this staircase to get some different views, as you’ll see below. Cemeteries had these mobile staircases about so visitors may use to access some of the high vaults. Visitors looked at me like I was either crazy, badass or a little bit of both while up there.