Luxburg-Carolath Cemetery

The Square Luxburg-Carolath Cemetery
The Square Luxburg-Carolath Cemetery
	Coats of Arms Cemetery The Square Luxburg-Carolath
Details
Established	1879
Location	Maracaibo
Country	Venezuela
Coordinates	10°38′48″N 71°37′12″W / 10.646667°N 71.62°W
Type	Private

“The Square” Cemetery (Template:Lang-es) of the Grafen von Luxburg Fursten Zu Carolath-Beuthen und Prinzen von Schoenaich-Carolath family is an actively functional privately owned cemetery operated by the family's charitable foundation.

The cemetery is located on Las Delicias avenue in the city of Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia State, Venezuela. It is one of the oldest operating historical cemeteries in the country.

Record of burials happening in the designated area go back to 1821. However, it was officially established on 12 November 1879. It is known by many names: "New Cemetery", New Square", and "The Square".

History

Before the arrival of the Spaniards, different types of cemeteries existed in Zulia, including local Indian burials. After the arrival of the Spaniards and the growth of the Maracaibo city, the adoption of Christian customs increased - the burial of the deceased in the lands next to the established churches. In 1698, the monarchy of Spain announced that the deceased were to be buried next to the parish churches. In 1827, Simón Bolívar changed the decree to state that the deceased were to be buried in lands designated for such purpose.

In 1821, the Maracaibo cemetery was created behind the San Juan de Dios Church, and it continued to function till 1880. Along with this, the Cemetery of the Germans (1824) and the Cemetery of Saint Lucia (1881) are the three oldest colonial cemeteries of Maracaibo. These three cemeteries were frequently looted and in the early 1900s, the remains were transported to The Square cemetery.

While The Square was officially founded on 12 November 1879, it was in private existence funded by few citizens. Hermes Romero made its architectural design. Initially, it was known as the New Cemetery because it was the newest burial ground in the city at that time. The residents of Maracaibo named it "The Square" and it was officially registered by the Troconis family in 1925.

In addition to El Cuadrado, another of the old cemeteries, now disappeared, was the cemetery of Santa Lucia, opened on January 30, 1881, and also closed in 1942. And it is not a new claim, the Panorama newspaper in its edition of January 7 In 2006, he published a report where the journalist Paúl Ramírez Mora said that 40 antisocials were living there and that more than 96,000 souls rested on 800 square meters in El Cuadrado. The Luxburg-Carolath Square cemetery is made up of four cemeteries, which are the colonial cemetery, the English cemetery, the Saint Lucia cemetery and The Square Luxburg-Carolath itself. Which makes it unique in Venezuela and Latin America.

The cemetery The Square Luxburg-Carolath, when it was built, was 200 x 200 meters. It was built in a classic style (classicism), due to the influence of the European colony in Maracaibo. The cemetery is the most famous, and oldest operational cemetery in Zulia and Venezuela, the most historical, not only because of its architecture but also because of the vast majority of the personalities that formed the splendor Maracaibo, Zulia and Venezuela that rest in peace there. Fine marble monuments brought from Italy each piece with spectacular details. Unique exquisite works composed of all known Architectural styles. The terrible “Spanish flu” or “el trancazo”, which in 1918 ended, according to data from the time with 800-1000 maracaiberos (citizens of Maracaibo), which represented in a population of about 36,000 souls, a mortality rate, from the flu, near 3%, similar to the world death rate. This was that of every 100 marabinos 50 were sick and about 3 died from the flu. It is understood because it prevented the procession of the Virgen de la Chiquinquirá from leaving the old Saladillo neighborhood miraculously. "Many souls received The Square in that epidemic." El Cuadrado is not just a historical treasure of Zulia or Maracaibo because of its architecture, it is mainly the only historical cemetery that houses 3 cemeteries in it and all possible major world religions. Catholics, Jews, Protestants and who knows who else. It is something unique in Venezuela.

The cemetery has about 1000 tombs which hold 10,364 dead people among whose graves, niches and pantheons have been buried in Zulian illustrious as the hero of independence Antonio Pulgar; the immortal rector of University of Zulia, Jesús Enrique Losada; the poet Udón Pérez; the doctor and scientist Humberto Fernández Morán; the precursor of the national cinema Manuel Trujillo Durán; the artist Julio Árraga; Dr. Jesús María Portillo; the creator of the university city, Antonio Borjas Romero; the magnate of the missing Bella Vista Castle, Lucas Evangelista Rincón; Don Manuel Belloso, founder of Cobeca and the "saint" Fray Junipero, whose body is said to remain intact in his coffin and becomes incredibly heavy if they try to move it. Isaiah chapter 14, verse 19 states: "But you have been cast out of your sepulcher as a rejected rod." Today in the cemeteries, no grave enjoys privacy; the holy rest is interrupted amorally. Nowadays many times life is not respected and less death.

Description

José Ferrer counts that they have desecrated the great majority of the graves. “There is a depraved crime. There is no moral, nor respect for the deceased, for values, ”he lamented. The buried body of a person takes 8 years to exhume and transfer the remains to the ossuary and the criminals opt for those that are more than 100 years old, that is, from 1920 onwards. Most are shattered. “The graves have very large marble vases, and they grab it to break the ossuaries. Mr. Ferrer estimated that of the 10 thousand three hundred people buried in El Cuadrado, and about 15 thousand dead in a unique separate vault called “El Carnero” which is 50 meter deep, of which 40-50% is already abandoned, since “they have been lost because they are very old, or because relatives left them abandoned "

José Ferrer, current worker of the El Cuadrado cemetery, his family has a long history related to the cemetery since the first worker Heriberto Hernández for 45 years of service. He was the grandfather's father-in-law, José Antonio Ferrer, of Mr. José Ferrer. Then came the grandfather who was 72 years in total. When the grandfather dies, Pope Nilo Enrique Ferrer Hernández comes with 52 years of service, who died in 2011 and since that year Mr. José Ferrer is the queeping with the tradition.

José Ferrer supervised and organized all the works in the cemetery by the Foundation Luxburg-Carolath to the cemetery. He was, with all his coworkers, the most important human factor in the entire organization since day one of all works. He and the history of his family related to all the time that the cemetery exists since its foundation is a separate story of Marabinos dedicated to their work of a family dynasty.

Several tombs in the square have bars on top built by relatives who thought that would save them from thief and tomb raiders. They didn't help much. The bars were forced the desecrated tombs - the undergrowth emptied and they went into oblivion until the general cleaning. A common Venezuelan construction in our cemeteries that in our opinion have very few analogs in the world. By restoring cemeteries and putting all souls to rest in peace, we have in our opinion to leave as a memory to the time of tomb raiders and complete desolation. It didn't work, all the graves were perpetrated and stolen without any difference. Many activists and hired people worked during this work that seems simple at first but it was a difficult task because it is not a simple work yard it is a cemetery.

Characteristic of The Square Luxburg-Carolath Cemetery

In Maracaibo, the Colonial Cemetery (Old Cemetery or General Cemetery of Maracaibo) was opened in 1829, the Cemetery of the Germans opened 1834 and the Cemetery of Saint Lucia opened 1881. These cemeteries were sawn to perform civil works in the city in the year of 1942. The remains of the deceased who were left were transferred to the El Cuadrado cemetery simply because they were the closest to them. Columbariums were built in El Cuadrado to accommodate the deceased of the cemeteries. That is why the square cemetery is unique in Venezuela, it houses 3 other cemeteries since 1829, forming only one on 4, there are four cemeteries together in one. Like the city of Maracaibo. It is also called Athens of Latin America, the city of the 3 foundations. It is the most famous and ancient in Maracaibo and Zulia. The Columbariums today are in a total state of looting, deterioration, and perpetration. The reconstruction project of the cemetery carries the historical inclusion of the 3 cemeteries and their families.

Mixed Unique Architecture

The Square (El Cuadrado) is considered as an outstanding work of Funeral and Religious Art. The one that shows how Maracaibo el Zulia and Venezuela lived and developed. It is common to say that countries/governments and their level of civilization are judged by how they treat their deceased and their jailed citizens. The development of cemeteries the style of their graves is a unique contribution to the entity of any community in the world. It has almost all styles of architecture made such as Neoclassical, Classic, Naco (vulgar), Humble, Eclecticism, Gothic, Contemporary, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, with endless variations of their own given by family members. One of the few examples of different styles of architecture: Art Nouveau is represented by Fernandez Moran, Coronell Francisco Aguirre. Pantheon Electrico family Quintero designed by Hermes Romero (the same architect that designed The Square) Tomb of the Losada family inspired by the temple of classical antiquity and others that will be described separately. All known styles in one way or another are presented in the cemetery.

Owner and Administration

The Grafen von Luxburg Family Foundation, Fürsten zu Carolath-Beuthen und Prinzen von Schoenaich-Carolath is a civil, charitable and non-profit foundation founded on June 14, 1940, by Karl von Luxburg; She is the owner and administrator of the Cemetery Luxburg-Carolath Square since August 2019.

Karl Ludwig Graf von Luxburg, Fürst zu Carolath-Beuthen und Prinz von Schoenaich-Carolath, Minister and Ambassador of the German Empire during World War I.

Karl-Ludwig Graf von Luxburg, Fürst zu Carolath-Beuthen und Prinz von Schoenaich-CarolathThe Foundation was established by Karl Luxburg Carolath, One of the first board of directors was chaired by Walli Paula Luise countess of Luxburg a Venezuelan German citizen, known as “El Ángel de Trujillo” for her cultural charities at the Red Cross, the first woman to lead a charitable and cultural foundation in Latin America.,^[1] Currently the president of the Foundation is Friedrich Ulrich Count Luxburg-Carolath.

The Luxburg-Carolath Foundation has its main office: Carabobo Street, Quinta Luxburg-Carolath in the city of Maracaibo, Also offices in Switzerland, Germany, and Poland.

Decorations for his career

Rafael Maria Baralt First Class Gold Band - Awarded by the Legislative Council of the State of Zulia, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. (highest recognition, the medal of Zulia State)
Casique Nigale in only class (Gold Band) - Awarded by the City Hall of the City of Maracaibo, Zulia State, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Most important recognition, Medal of the city of Maracaibo.

National, Regional and Municipal Historical and Cultural Heritage

The Square Luxburg- Carolath, is a unique cultural place in Venezuela, because of the importance for all Venezuela and Latin America, of genealogical roots of the people that are buried there, it has Unique Government protection status among Cemeteries, is inserted in the law of protection and defense of the historical-cultural heritage of Venezuela (Official Gazette of Venezuela No. 4,623) dated September 3, 1993. The Central Commission of the System of Protection and Defense of the Cultural Heritage of the Zulia State and Maracaibo Municipality, in use of the attribution conferred by Decree 94 dated July 2003, unanimously approved on date four (04) August 2005, the proposal of Declaration of Cultural-Historical Heritage of the Zulla State of “CEMETERY THE SQUARE,” as well as the elaboration of a Management Plan or Management Proposal and the implementation of a Safety Plan to face the desecration of graves and the illicit traffic of works Sculptural in the Cemetery. That the "CEMETERY THE SQUARE" of Maracaibo, has been recognized by the Institute of Cultural Heritage and declared historical and cultural heritage of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela according to Administrative Providence No. 012/05 dated June 30, 2005; In 2007 decree From the Governor of the State of Zulia No. 630 April 4, 2007. Historical Cultural Heritage of the State of Zulia. The Fundacion Luxburg-Carolath has applied to enchase this status for even more high protection and recognition by the government and international organizations such as UNESCO world heritage status.

Reconstruction Project

The Luxburg-Carolath Foundation received the square in the form of a Donation in August 2019. In which the former owner insisted on adding the historical surnames of the German Venezuelan Switzerland dynasty Luxburg-Carolath to the name El Cuadrado, leaving the final name as Cemetery ' “The Square of the Grafen von Luxburg Fursten zu Carolath-Beuthen und Prinzen von Schoenaich-Carolath Family” Short “The Square Luxburg-Carolath” The state of the cemetery is of total deterioration and destruction. Perpetration of 95% of the graves. All columbarium destroyed and looted. The Luxburg-Carolath Foundation has already carried out the cleaning of the cemetery and began to prepare a plan for the recovery and reconstruction of the Cemetery together with the Governorate of Zulia and the Mayor's Office of Maracaibo. Because it is National, State and Municipal Heritage all works must be approved by the State. The reconstruction project ideology is mainly of preserving the cemetery for future generations, constructing a Church Inside the cemetery to return to the historical heritage of having a cemetery built around a church. The Church will be called Leopold IX (Leo IX) for the recognition of Saint Pope Leo IX of the catholic roman Church – who was a German and of German Nobility. Reconstruction and Construction of new Columbarium, Security, entrance building, Contention walls, etc. The Foundation will contract external companies and experts on cemetery administration and construction. To fully preserve old graves and the history of the cemetery. The stiles of architecture must flow and transport history to the 19th century when El Cuadrado was building first. This will be for the first time done in Venezuela cemetery – till today there was none architectural design is done and Venezuelan cemeteries developed their own way of life and death.

Coats of Arms Project

The Coats of Arms of the Luxburg-Carolath Family are the two official coats of arms of the cemetery since August 2019. A heraldic shield of the cemetery is being prepared which will have elements from Venezuela, the State of Zulia and others. The 3 cemeteries which are inside of El Cuadrado have been included in the coats of arms also the eagle which is represented in the house of the Governor of Zulia. Here you can see the model of future Coats of Arms which is being developed by heraldic specialists. Together with a specialized web page for interaction with almost 1000 families that have their relatives buried in their plots. The new slogan of the cemetery is in Spanish “Nuestros Muertos viven” in English “Our Decedents Live” in Latin ‘Vivamus Nostris Mortuus Est”

Notable interments in The Square Luxburg-Carolath

References

^ Nagel von Jess, kurt (July 15, 2009). "Nuestra Primera Activista". Iconos Zulianos.

Tarre Murzi, Alfredo: Biografía de Maracaibo ((in English): Maracaibo Biography), Ed. Bodini S.A., Barcelona, Spain, 1986.
El Zulia Ilustrado, Facsimile reproduction, Ed. Belloso Foundation, Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1965.
Nava, Ciro: Centuria cultural del Zulia, Élite Editorial, Caracas, Venezuela, 1940.
Nagel Von Jess, Kurt:Algunas familias maracaiberas ((in English): Some Maracaibo families), University of Zulia Press, Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1989.
Ocando Yamarte, Gustavo: Historia del Zulia ((in English): The History of Zulia). Arte Editorial, Caracas, Venezuela, 1996.
Gómez Espinosa, Antonio: Historia fundamental del Zulia ((in English): Critical History of Zulia), Editor Jean Baissari, Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1984.
Plumacher, Eugene H.: Memorias ((in English): Memoirs). Ciudad Solar Editors, historic heritage of Zulia state, Maracaibo, Venezuela, 2003.

External links

Maracaibo travel guide from Wikivoyage

[1] Nagel von Jess, kurt (July 15, 2009). "Nuestra Primera Activista". Iconos Zulianos.

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