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Dense terraces of tiled family vaults, checkerboard fronts interrupted by pink and pale blue ones

Guadeloupe

Morne-à-l’Eau Cemetery: Black-and-White Tiled Tombs

December 2017

The Morne-à-l’Eau Cemetery occupies a hillside in the town of Morne-à-l’Eau on Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe. Established in 1847, its family burial vaults are arranged in terraces across a natural amphitheater. Many resemble small houses, with porches, pitched roofs, gates, and walls covered in ceramic tile.

The cemetery is best known for the black-and-white checkerboard tilework covering most of its tombs, although blue, pink, green, and other colors also appear. No documented explanation has established why the checkerboard pattern became dominant.

Before All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on November 1 and 2, families clean, repair, weed, paint, and decorate the graves. On the evening of November 1, relatives gather to pray and light candles in memory of the dead, illuminating the terraced cemetery.

Bright artificial flowers on a checkerboard-tiled tomb above the crowded cemetery terraces
Vault porch with broken-tile mosaic panels, rusted iron doors and a crumbling ceiling
Terraced rows of tiled family vaults with the town's rooftops rising behind
Two whitewashed graves set with orange candle holders and plastic flowers
House-shaped tombs with balconies, railings and crosses, faced in checkerboard tile
Chapel-like vault tiled in black diamonds, a white cross on its pitched roof
Grave cross painted with the name "GOMAS Alex" among tiled tombs and bare sand
Family vault lettered "DEMEA MARCEL" with checkerboard walls and doors
Sunlit lane climbing between tomb houses with steps, gates and verandas
Freshly tiled tomb wrapped entirely in black-and-white checkerboard behind a white railing
Narrow vault with a grille door, mosaic panels of shattered tile and mosaic paving
House-shaped family tomb tiled in purple and cream checkerboard, flowers behind its white porch railing
Black-and-white checkerboard vault with a broken-tile mosaic panel and a "Famille Francfort" plaque
Row of tiled tombs with porches and pitched roofs receding along a grassy cemetery path
Checkerboard-tiled tomb with an iron railing and inscribed gable, other vaults crowding the slope beside it
Family vault fronted in black-and-white tiles and mosaic panels, its iron gate closed over flowers inside
Open-fronted vault lined floor to roof in checkerboard tile, with four sealed burial compartments
Concrete steps between two tombs, one inscribed "Famille Ramier", the other faced in checkerboard tile
Hillside stacked with checkered, pink, and blue tombs rising in terraces under cloud
Dense terraces of tiled family vaults, checkerboard fronts interrupted by pink and pale blue ones
Tomb with a diamond-checkered door, small cross and enamel nameplate, ranks of vaults behind
Cracked marble plaque with a French epitaph resting on a tiled grave slab beside plastic roses

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