Dissidents Cemetery

The 19th-century cemetery where Valparaíso's non-Catholic foreigners were buried — freethinkers, Protestants, and radicals

The Dissidents Cemetery on Cerro Panteón is one of the most evocative cemeteries in Chile. Established in 1825 for the city's large community of Protestant and non-Catholic immigrants — primarily British, German, and North American merchants — it holds the graves of people who shaped the port's commercial history but were denied burial in the main Catholic cemetery. The headstones are in English and German, the inscriptions often moving in their mix of pride and displacement.

The adjacent Cementerio Católico No. 1, established at the same time, can be visited alongside it — the contrast between the two, their different languages and symbols, tells the story of Valparaíso's divided 19th-century society more clearly than any museum exhibit. Both cemeteries sit on the hill above the city, accessible from the Panteón neighbourhood, and the views from the hillside down to the port are excellent.

things to do sight
A story
When the British and German merchants of Valparaíso died in the 19th century, the Catholic Church would not allow them to be buried in consecrated ground. The Dissidents Cemetery — formally called the Cementerio de Disidentes — was established in 1825 as a result. It is the resting place of hundreds of European immigrants: Protestants, atheists, Jews, and free-thinkers. The headstones are in English, German, and French, and the epitaphs sometimes carry a quiet defiance.

Other places in Things To Do