2023-11-01 07:55:11
In it Morille cemetery There are no flowers or photographs. Nobody comes on Sundays to clean the epitaphs. Nor does there flutter an air of solemnity. In this small town in Salamanca, the dead are celebrated. They are lived with such exaltation that, for the outsider, said hubbub can even be offensive.
However, what the newcomer does not know is that bodies are not buried here… but literary texts, plastic pieces, audiovisual documents, musical instruments and cinematographic sketches, among other objects that have little to do with flesh and blood. “It’s crazy, I know,” says its founder, Domingo Sánchez, with the usual laugh that characterizes him. 18 years ago he organized the first funeralbut even today, after more than 200, it continues to provoke the same astonishment as then.
The origin of this initiative dates back to 2001, when Sánchez joined forces with the late Javier Utray to develop his most ambitious idea: The death of the thinker Pierre Klossowski was the trigger. “20 days before, I took a car and arrived in Paris. I went to ask him for his ashes while he was still alive. It’s funny because, when I suggested other colleagues come with me, they were all upset. They told me that I didn’t know who I was addressing. I answered them flatly: he is the ‘enfant terrible’ of philosophy, a famous theologian and amateur pornographer. “He had everything and I was very interested,” he recalls.
His wife, Denise Morin-Sinclair, was his connecting link. They corresponded for months to decide what to do with the future remains of her husband. In one of these letters, a most bizarre plan emerged.
“I offered him dancing during his funeral while Nick Cave played“, says. An invitation that, although it sounds like a deliberate invention, is full of details. According to his testimony, guided by his instinct, she traveled to London to meet with the singer. Once there, after receiving him with great kindness, he immediately rejected the proposal. The reasons are unknown, but this refusal did not stop him. For his part, Utray wanted bury the Pontiac Grand Prix with whom he had taken so many walks around the Prado Museum.
Therefore, when recounting the odyssey to their old friend, and mayor of Morille, Manolo Ambrosio, they came to the conclusion that the perfect destination to complete their mission was in this corner of Campo Charro in Castilian Leon: a mining enclave of 230 inhabitants, particularly known during the 1950s.
The neighbors, in procession
These were the first two burials that were carried out on the 90,000 square meter plot that the City Council made available to them. That morning in 2005, The urn was transported in a hearse period flanked by a procession of neighbors, family, friends and admirers who did not want to miss such an event. In front of the hole, a tombstone with the following inscription: “I wish for gasoline so badly, saliva things about fuel, the car, the body, the conversation.”
Next to the Pontiac, the hood rests in a vault a few meters underground. “A couple of years went by without anything happening, but suddenly interest skyrocketed. To the point of having a waiting list with 200 requests,” says Sánchez, who documents and catalogs each of the pieces that take the step towards a better life.
Some manuscripts of the playwright already rest in the tombs Fernando Arrabalsome poems by the singer German Copinnia bust of the actor Paul Naschyan image of Ayatollah Khomeini from the journalist Christian Malardsome rolls of film Buried of the filmmaker Rodrigo Cortesa piano by the composer Juan Hidalgoa performance from the creator Esther Ferrera sculpture by the plastic artist Isidoro Valcárcel and a ball from the soccer coach Vicente del Bosque.
Works that, unlike those exhibited in museums, will never be seen, touched, heard again… “We wanted it to be a project for the future. And, to do this, we had to give him the story of a contemporary mausoleum in a country where death is very rigorous. The curious thing was that, faced with our doubts, all of God became passionate. And, step by step, the town made it its own,” he continues.
A dome and many plates
Whoever comes to its doors should not expect a tourist attraction. Not even a normal cemetery. It is a piece of land that, dotted with some informative signs, as well as a dome that has just been erected as an operations center, only houses plaques that indicate the point where each one is located. deceased. Hence the real spectacle occurs during the ‘burials’.
“Each artist marks them. They are the most important part, especially for the person who is going to star in it. They can be private or public. It depends on the feeling he wants to convey and how he wants to formalize it,” points out the creator. This strong bond constitutes the reason for the location: to give a place to those fruits that have vigorously lived a creative process so that they are not lost in time.
Thus, as if it were a game, the visitor must imagine the stories that the rocks now protect. Most likely, at first he won’t understand anything. Normal, taking into account the prevailing minimalism. But as you continue along the path, you will begin to notice that there is more than just treasure under your feet. “There is no similar place in the world. I feel proud to have done it ourselves,” concludes Sánchez, who is preparing a book about what it means to carry out a job of such magnitude.
Well, in this cemetery, the content is as artistic as the container: “I don’t have any favorites, to be honest. All the burials have been of such intensity that I barely remember them. I always look forward to them finishing soon so we can go to the bar.” To temper the soul.
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