Stroll through the ‘Cementerio Municipal Sara Braun” in Punta Arenas, and the silent history and ‘spirits’ of the city and southern Chile will be laid out before you. An immense portico on Avenue Bulnes marks the main entrance to the graveyard; however, it is permanently sealed. According to legend, Sara Braun (who funded the construction of the graveyard in 1894), expressed the desire to be the only person to cross the portico, which was then to be sealed forever. Whether this is a true story or not, when she died in 1955 in Viña del Mar (Chile), her remains were carried through the huge central door of the portico at the Cemetery Punta Arenas and it was sealed. If you look closely, you can see how the iron hinges might have been corroded over the years, which would make opening them impossible.

Walk through a small door to the left of the main portico, and you come into a large, formal garden where neatly trimmed European cypress trees shade the avenues. Off the paths, enormous mausoleums decorated with marble walls, bronze statues and stained glass windows (belonging to the wealthiest families) stand interspersed with more modest tombs decorated with photographs and candles. The names are a microcosm of the cosmopolitan settlers in Punta Arenas — Blanchards, O’Reillys, Menendez-Montes, Braun, Hamburger, Vrsalovic . . . Although the cemetery is said to be divided along national lines, in reality, Punta Arenas was such a melting pot that the same family tomb often lists several different nationalities.

The so-called British section, in the oldest part of the cemetery, includes tombstones belonging to Spaniards, Norwegians, and Chileans. It is located near the Braun family mausoleum, a large stone structure with a copper onion-dome inside a wrought-iron fence.

Amongst the graves of early Scottish and Welsh settlers, a large stone plaque lists the 143 sailors and officers who were killed when the HMS Doterel, a 1,320-ton British screw sloop, accidentally exploded whilst at anchor off Punta Arenas on 17 January 1881. The names of those who lost their lives are listed by rank with the “boys” at the bottom.  Not all the British were buried in this cemetery. About 30 miles south of Punta Arenas, on a hill overlooking the Straits of Magellan, is a tiny “British” cemetery where the remains of Pringle Stokes, captain of the HMS Beagle was buried after he shot himself. His grave is marked by a small cross that reads, “In memory of Captain Pringle Stokes, RN, HMS Beagle who died from the effects of the anxieties and hardships incurred while surveying the western shore of Tierra del Fuego, 12.8.1828”

Not far from the British section is the German area of the Cemetery Punta Arenas where, amongst the tombstones of patients who died at the German Hospital of Punta Arenas, a memorial to Vice Admiral Maximilian Reichsgraf von Spee is tucked away under the trees. At the start of World War II, Admiral von Spee was in command of a squadron of four armored cruisers in the waters around China. Anxious to avoid being trapped by hostilities, he attempted to sail back to Germany via Cape Horn. According to information discovered after the war, the British, who had broken the German naval codes, sent a fake telegram which lured Von Spee to the Falkland Islands. It was here that the Battle of the Falkland Islands took place, and the British ships HMS Inflexible and HMS Invincible attacked and sank the German squadron, including von Spee’s flagship, the Scharnhorst, together with the Gneisenau, Nurnberg and SMS Leipzig. All 2,200 sailors aboard the ships, including Von Spee and his two sons, were killed. Ironically in World War II, the German cruiser named after the Admiral was scuttled after the Battle of River Platte, a few hundred miles north of where Von Spee lost his life.

In the middle of the cemetery, decorated with an enormous iron anchor, is the tomb of Norwegian captain, Adolfo Amadeus Andresen, the founder of the Magallanes Whaling Society. Andresen, who hunted whales into the waters of the Antarctic, is credited with claiming large parts of the continent and surrounding seas for Chile. He was accompanied by Wilhelmina Schroder, the first woman to live in the Antarctic.

In a corner of the cemetery is the tomb of the last Selk’nam Indian of Tierra del Fuego, the “Indio Desconocido.” He died and was buried on the island of Diego de Almagro in 1930. By the 1960s, the tomb had become a site of pilgrimage with visitors leaving coins and candles, hoping to benefit from his rumored miraculous powers.

Funded by the coins that were left as offerings, the tomb was moved to the Cemeterio Punta Arenas where you can see it today — a bronze statue surrounded by three walls that are now entirely covered with plaques and messages given in thanks for “favors granted.” The hand of the statue of the Indio Desconocido has now been rubbed to a shiny patina by visitors.

The cemetery in Punta Arenas is one of the most fascinating you will find in South America. As you walk through the silent sentinels each will tell a story about the people who lived and died in and around this southern-most city.

IF YOU GO
The Cementerio Municipal Sara Braun is located on Bulnes Avenue. It is open from 0730 to 2000 October to March and 0800 to 1830 from April to September. There are three entrances with the main one located on Bulnes Ave, about a 20-minute walk from the Plaza de Armas.

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