Araçá Cemetery, Cemetery in São Paulo, Brazil
Araçá Cemetery is an old burial ground in São Paulo established in 1887 that spans a large area in the Pinheiros and Pacaembu neighborhoods. The grounds feature tall trees and graves decorated with marble and bronze sculptures, including gothic-style mausoleums with pointed arches and detailed stonework.
The cemetery was established in 1887 when existing burial grounds in the city had become overcrowded and unable to accommodate burials. From 2002 to 2016, an underground ossuary held the remains of over one thousand victims of violence and political events in Brazil, found at a mass grave site in Perus in 1990.
The cemetery appears in the Brazilian translation of "The Whole Being Dead Thing" from the musical Beetlejuice, staged in São Paulo in early 2024; the São Paulo verse names Araçá, Consolação and cremation in Vila Alpina. The band O Terno mentions it in the song "Morto": "no Cemitério do Araçá tem uma pedra com o seu nome".
The grounds are easily accessible by public transportation with several bus lines running past the entrance and the Clínicas metro station nearby with an exit right in front. The facility is well-maintained and offers rooms for funeral services, with about 200 burials held here each month.
The cemetery housed an underground ossuary from 2002 to 2016 containing the remains of over one thousand victims of violence and political repression, whose bones came from a mass grave excavation in the Perus district. These remains were later transferred to a forensic center for examination to help identify the missing or unlawfully killed.
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