The cemetery is planned in the city by legal request as all the towns in the kingdom were obliged to establish one. Initially, they intended to use a plain near the country chapel, but the unevenness of the land and health considerations ruled this option out. A more suitable plot was bought located further away and works were started. It was consecrated and opened on 4 July 1814.
On 8 May 2000 San Juan Bautista Church was designated Cultural Heritage Asset, under the Monument category. The cemetery also received the same protection status.
The cemetery is a large rectangular enclosure divided by an octagonal axis, which in turn, divides it in two other rectangular sections. The main entrance opens to a longitudinal path lined with cypress trees that leads to the Chapel. This stands practically in the centre of the cemetery, separating the older section – opened in 1814-, from the plot purchased in 1903 to extend the cemetery. In the two sections that stretch in front of the chapel stand beautiful stone and marble tombs from the Romantic period. On the left of the cemetery stands the interesting pantheon of the Bretillard family; the right one is taken by a small compartment for non-Catholics. The enclosure is fenced by a masonry wall which bears on one of its sides a main entrance, flanked by two sculpted stone, robust pilasters.
In 1903 the original plot was extended by purchasing a new plot of practically the same size. During the Second Republic, in compliance with the regulations in force, the small non-Catholic cemetery was merged with the rest by pulling down the wall that separated them.
The chapel was built in neoclassic style, referring us back to a markedly historicist period, which was deeply rooted on the islands. It is designed as a small Greek temple, and its simple decoration and the architectural elements employed convey a language that is strongly conditioned by the neoclassical style.
