When I think of Enric Miralles and the legacy he left I feel that Architecture suffered a great loss when he died at the age of 55 in 2000. This feeling was driven deep on a visit to Igualada Cemetery, designed by himself and Carme Pinos, where he is buried.
The cemetery is in a sad state of unfinished and aged disrepair - it has been awaiting completion since 1994, when the second phase of construction was stopped, and has since started to weather, rust and emulsify...
Scars and bruises in the concrete give testimony to an abandoned existence... A dilapidated beauty, but a sad one nonetheless, it wouldn't have been any less beautiful had it been completed and properly looked after.
There are countless lovely details to find, sketch and photograph. Curves and lines that shout Miralles' name...
Even on All Saints' Day (when most Catholics visit the dead) the place is very quiet, with no supervision, you can even walk around the autopsy theatres which are left open, unfinished...
Miralles' tomb is a homage to the great man.
Architecture enthusiasts from all over the world have scribbled messages in all languages and drawn little sketches for him. It is amazing, especially when you consider the fact that there is nothing much else to see in Igualada, and it is a long journey from Barcelona, which is presumably where most people came from.
Lesser mortals are buried in large retaining walls, as they do in other Spanish cemeteries. I find the idea of being sandwiched between other graves, in all directions, for all eternity a bit disturbing and claustrophobic. But it does make for some nice repetition...
And repetition is another of the Architects' fortes...
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