This research addresses the historical and sociological transformation of the cemetery from a sanitation facility to a site of cultural heritage. In the 19th century, the "Hygienic Movement" moved burials out of the sacred interiors of churches to suburban public cemeteries, removing the management of death from religious authorities to medical and urban planners. This work discusses all the subsidies of the concept of "City of the Dead" as a projection of the "City of the Living," sustained by social hierarchies and urban segregation that unfold through funerary monuments. Furthermore, it analyzes the consolidation of "necrotourism" and the "garden cemetery" model in Europe and contrasts these successful heritage initiatives with the Brazilian context, in which cemeteries are often associated with abandonment and insecurity.