Grand displays, humble graves coexist amid whimsy, reverence

 JAMES ANDERSON
 Associated Press

 HAVANA -- Laid out along the plan of an ancient Roman city, Havana's Cristóbal
 Colón Necropolis is one of the globe's great cemeteries, offering a fascinating
 stroll through architectural treasures and Cuban history.

 Since its first recorded burial in 1868, the cemetery's population has grown to an
 estimated one million. Its grid of numbered and lettered streets contains
 grandiose family plots of self-indulgence and austere memorials to martyrs of
 Fidel Castro's revolution.

 And there is the fanciful. A sailboat sculpture honors Antonio Balaz, a national
 sailing champion. A double-three domino marks the final resting place of Juana
 Marín, a fanatic of the game who suffered a heart attack when she couldn't use a
 final double-three clutched in her hand. A white marble chess king adorns the
 tomb of world champion José Raúl Copablanca.

 Galician architect Calixto de Loira won the competition for the cemetery's design
 with a submission titled ``Wan Death Arrives Without Distinction at Hovels and at
 the Palaces of Kings.'' The results live up to his promise.

 Here lie Spanish bishops, revolutionary heroes Máximo Gómez and Marcelo
 Salado Lastra, and politician Eduardo Chibás, a crusader against corruption who
 committed suicide during a radio broadcast in 1951. At Chibás' funeral, a young
 Castro jumped atop the grave to denounce the government in his public debut.

 For a $1 entry fee, an aide will lend a well-worn map (``Our only one,'' she
 apologizes). You'll need it if you're pressed for time to catch the highlights of the
 138 acres.

 With a flourish, the arches of the necropolis' Romanesque-Byzantine Gate of
 Peace open onto Christopher Columbus Avenue, a broad, tree-lined way where
 you find tombs of the ``First Order'' -- mostly honoring pre- and post-colonial
 Cuban heroes and the privileged.

 SPLENDID TRIBUTES

 They include an imposing chestnut, gray and beige marble obelisk
 commemorating independence hero Gómez, who died in 1905. Farther along is
 the modernistic chapel for Catalina Lasa (1936) designed by Rene Lalique: white
 marble, black granite and purple crystal in a main facade and vaulted apse that
 resembles a space pod from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 Neo-Gothic, eclectic, modernist, Art Deco, and neo-Romanesque styles abound.
 A small pyramid modeled after Egypt's Cheops contrasts with elaborate statuary
 of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. A hilltop stand of polished metal flags is raised in
 everlasting tribute to Castro's fallen comrades.

 Cherubs that adorn a mausoleum dedicated to eight Cuban medical students
 executed by Spanish colonial troops in 1871 were sculpted by renowned Cuban
 artist José Vilalta Saavedra. Pilgrims flock to the shrine of La Milagrosa (the
 Miraculous One), a woman who died in childbirth in 1901 and whose remains
 were said to be intact when she was disinterred years later.

 At times, the necropolis' juxtapositions can be staggering.

 The stark Pantheon of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, its bearded metal
 warriors standing guard and tombs marked by number, stands near a modest
 memorial built by the one-time Anglo-American Association of Cuba.

 ``There are a lot of gringos here,'' said Jorge Guadalupe, a 55-year-old dentist
 using chisel and brush to restore a small 1937 marker for a father-in-law.

 ``This is a beautiful place,'' Guadalupe said, wiping a sweat-stained brow. ``It's a
 national monument, a history not only of Cuba but of many nations.''

 In all, there are 420 chapels for families, immigrant groups and charitable and
 workers associations.

 They include memorials for masons, French and Japanese immigrant colonies,
 telephone workers, merchant sailors, baseball players, umpires and coaches,
 dockworkers and the Workers Society of La Tropical Brewery.

 Not everyone enjoys such recognition in the afterlife. Víctor Domínguez presides
 over the cemetery's octagonal General Ossuary, leading relatives through a grim
 maze lined by stacks of concrete urns.

 ``They say there are 11,000 little boxes here,'' Domínguez shrugs. ``For 10 pesos
 a year families can keep them here.'' With a friendly nod he bids farewell, ready to
 direct another visiting family to their dead.

 Amid it all, the living continue to bury their dead. Tourists pause as funeral
 processions of taxis and old Chevys pass by.

 Mass is celebrated in the 1886 Central Chapel, an octagonal
 Romanesque-Byzantine structure with a fresco titled Last Judgment, by Cuban
 artist Miguel Melero.

 A visit to the necropolis can appropriately end with a simple marble star marking
 the grave of revolutionary hero Salado Lastra, who died in 1958. Its inscription --
 and his quote for eternity: ``One can only be happy when we create a place in
 history, when we feel that we are fulfilling our duty.''