Come along with me for a walk through the Santa María Magdalena de Pazzi Cemetery in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. It sits right at El Morro on a bluff above the Atlantic, and a lot of it is in really bad shape, which makes it pretty eerie. We’ll walk through the first section, head through the archway to the other side and take a look at a mausoleum full of crypts.
Santa María Magdalena de Pazzi Cemetery, San Juan Walk
Santa María Magdalena de Pazzi Cemetery in Old San Juan, right by El Morro: old tombstones, open crypts and a crumbling mausoleum along the Atlantic.
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Key Takeaways
- The cemetery is right next to the El Morro fort, and you can see it from up top when you’re walking around that part of San Juan.
- It was established in 1863, and I found graves with dates going back to the 1800s, including one from 1847 to 1917.
- On a lot of the markers, the names and dates are completely gone, and some graves are just covered with a board.
- The graves are packed very close together, right along the sea.
- An iguana jumped out at me while I was walking, which is just what you want in a cemetery.
- Through the archway there’s a second section with El Morro’s walls in the distance, plus destroyed memorials and statues falling over.
- One building is basically a mausoleum of crypts, and some of them are open and empty.
- It’s still in use: I found burials as recent as 2022.
Good to Know
A gray, cloudy day really fits the mood here. Between the crumbling tombs, the sound of the waves and the open crypts, it’s one of the creepier walks you can take in San Juan.
Don’t stand on top of the tombs. Honestly, most of them don’t look like they could hold much weight anyway.
Please be respectful while you’re here. As run down as it is, it’s still the resting place of a lot of people, and families are still burying loved ones here. It’s a shame to see how much of it has been left to deteriorate.