Barcelona, February 16 – Barcelona City Council has initiated a comprehensive review of eight municipal cemeteries, following concerns about their structural integrity and potential risk of collapse. The public company responsible for their management, Cementiris de Barcelona S.A.U. (CBSA), part of Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM), will invest over half a million euros in the service to monitor these century-old funerary constructions.
Half a Million Euro Investment for Structural Monitoring
The decision comes after repeated criticisms regarding the lack of maintenance in some of these historical and patrimonial spaces. CBSA aims to reverse the state of abandonment and ensure the safety of visitors and the preservation of the city’s rich heritage.
“Funerary constructions are very old, which is why it is necessary to control their structural state and be informed sufficiently in advance in case any of them could lead to a total collapse of the structure,” CBSA stated in the tender documents accessed by Metrópoli.
The service involves advanced auscultation techniques, instrumented measurement systems, and systematic inspection protocols to obtain quantitative and verifiable data on the mechanical behavior of the structures. This will allow for the early detection of any adverse conditions or instabilities.
Continuity of a Long-Standing Service
This initiative is a continuation of a structural auscultation system implemented by Cementiris de Barcelona eight years ago across the city’s nine cemeteries. The system, which continuously monitors centennial funerary constructions, was first introduced in 2018 at Montjuïc Cemetery, founded in 1883. It was subsequently extended to the remaining eight cemeteries.
Sources within B:SM confirmed that “the tender that has now been launched corresponds to the continuation of the auscultation service in these enclosures, whose current contracts are about to expire.”
Centuries-Old Cemeteries Under Scrutiny
The cemeteries subject to this contract are Collserola, Les Corts, Poblenou, Sants, Sant Andreu, Sarrià, Sant Gervasi, and Horta. With the exception of Collserola, all these facilities are over 100 years old and are undergoing an
