The Municipal Cemetery was established in 1801, remodelling the Charterhouse, founded in the mid 14th century and dismantled in 1797 by Napoleon, and its church, dedicated to San Girolamo, hosting an inlaid choir and pictures by Antonio and Bartolomeo Vivarini, Ludovico and Agostino Carracci, Guercino (now in Bologna National Picture Gallery), Bartolomeo Cesi and other important Bolognese painters of the XVII century. Extensive works soon began, reflecting the interest of noble and bourgeois families in the building of family tombs, that turned the Charterhouse into a proper "open-air museum".
Neo-classic sculpture together with tombs dating to the age of realism (1870s) is one of the main features of the Bolognese cemetery.

To this have to be added also the painted monuments, fresco or tempera on wall, which are perhaps unique in the world. For these reasons, in particular during the 19th century, the Certosa of Bologna become so famous that European travellers such as Byron, Dickens, Mommsen, Stendhal visiting Italy on their grand tour, would include it in their Bolognese itinerary. In late 19th century, while working to enlarge the burial area, the accidental discovery of an Etruscan necropolis with 420 tombs threw new light on the monument. We can still admire the archeological items, now displayed in the Town's Archeological Museum.