Geotouristic trail in the Senhor da Boa Sentença Cemetery, João Pessoa, State of Paraíba (PB), Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

The inclusion of elements of the natural landscape, particularly abiotic heritage, and cultural heritage, to touristic activity as a result of a more demanding market ultimately provides the rise of geotourism, an integrated activity between geosciences, culture, and history of the place in which they operate. The cemeterial tourism is a part of the urban geotourism now rising in Brazil, wherein observation and analysis of the esthetics and of the georesources used in tombs make many tourists and scholars start to patronize this new touristic niche. Thus, this paper proposes a geotouristic trail in Senhor da Boa Sentença Cemetery, the oldest at the Paraiba capital, northeastern Brazil, inaugurated in 1856, by mapping the stone materials used in the gravestones, which serve as tools for sociological, architectural, and geosciences studies. Thirteen different types of granites, as well as other types of rocks, have been identified, as well as various architectural styles; the trail can thus be used both by geotourists and scholars from various fields, being the cemetery an open-air museum.