The sarcophagus

At the entrance to the General Cemetery we find the sarcophagus made by Mariano Benlliure in 1935 and which was supposed to preside over the funerary monument dedicated by the city to Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. It is a magnificent marble, bronze and brass cenotaph, with the recumbent figure of the famous novelist in the upper part and figures representing his novels on the sides.

The arrival of the body of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez in Valencia

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez died in Menton (France) on January 28, 1928. Three years later, after the establishment of the Second Republic, a Comité Pro Traslado was formed to fulfill the writer’s wish to rest on the shores of the Mediterranean. With the agreement of the national government, the city council led the initiatives proposed to transfer his mortal remains and, with an authentically idolatrous dimension, honor the memory of one of the most universal Valencians. “An event whose splendor will never be forgotten” Surely, Valencia experienced one of the most crowded episodes in its history on October 29, 1933, as many more than 300,000 people gathered, with an official entourage of 15,000 people led by President Alcalá Zamora, to receive and accompany the coffin with the mortal remains of Blasco Ibáñez. Since he disembarked in the port, aboard the battleship Jaime I, he was given the honor of head of state. As the coffin weighed about 700 kg, half a hundred groups of bearers were formed to transport it to the Lonja, where it was exposed for several days, to be moved later to the Councillors’ room of the Cemetery.


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