Medellin is embarking on a new venture to introduce visitors to the city’s historically fascinating network of cemeteries, with organized tours by day and full-moon tangos by night.
The city’s tour bus company, Turibus, will be working together with one of the city’s most popular museums – situated within the San Pedro cemetery – to provide tourists and locals with an insight into the historical and cultural importance of the burial sites.
Supported by the San Pedro Cemetery Foundation and bus company Seditrans, Turibus will on March 13 launch a new bus route for tourists, running every Wednesday and Saturday and serving each of Medellin’s major cemeteries, including San Lorenzo, San Pedro and Universal.
Participants on the tour will be provided with information about each of the cemeteries, learning about their relevance to Medellin’s history.
The director of the San Pedro Cemetery Museum, Patricia Garcia Zapata, told Colombia Reports that the project is designed to be “both cultural and educational,” aiming to create “a better use of [Medellin’s] cultural heritage.”
She explained that the cemeteries can offer a compelling cultural experience, which in her experience has led them to be a popular attraction among foreign tourists, as well as with Colombians.
To complement the cemetery tours, Garcia Zapata announced the introduction of the San Pedro Museum’s “Full Moon Nights.”
The museum will host performance-filled nights aiming to teach visitors about the artistic heritage of the city, with a particular focus on tango dancing – harking back to the favorite practice of Medellin’s 1950s cultural crowd.
Garcia Zapata said that she hopes visitors will appreciate the cemetary project not only for its historical value but also from a spiritual and artistic perspective.
The museum’s Full Moon Nights will take place every two months in the San Pedro cemetery, with the first on March 25.
To find out about purchasing tickets to the event, click here.