Casco histórico del Cementerio General, Historical cemetery section in Recoleta, Chile

The historical section of the general cemetery encompasses a large property and contains approximately 900 structures built before 1930, including elaborate mausoleums and burial monuments. The grounds display a diverse collection of grave structures that developed over many decades.

Bernardo O'Higgins founded the cemetery in 1821, before which non-Catholics and the poor were left beside Cerro Santa Lucía. Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna shaped it as a place to remember ancestors, while O'Higgins saw it as a tribute to Chile's founding figures and a way to unify the nation. Sanitary needs of the era also drove its creation.

The cemetery reproduces the layout of the city of the living, with streets, avenues and socioeconomic divisions: the largest mausoleums of Chile's wealthiest families stand near the entrance, followed by newer tombs and then the large niche buildings of poorer sectors. Sculptors such as Rebeca Matte, who is buried here, Antonio Morera, Octavio Román, José Perotti, the Italian Vicente Olcese, Samuel Román and the Frenchman Pierre Carrier-Belleuse contributed statues. The Patio de los Disidentes holds the evangelical minister Juan Canut de Bon.

Visitors can explore the grounds on marked pathways and should wear sturdy footwear as walkways can be uneven in places. Guided tours are available to help navigate the complex layout and provide context for the various structures.

The Patio 29, a plot where victims of the dictatorship's political repression were buried clandestinely, was declared a National Monument in 2006. Nearby, the Memorial to the Detained-Disappeared and Political Executed, made of marble and inaugurated in February 1994, lists disappeared persons on its left side and executed political figures on its right.