In El Salvador's capital city, one resident has found a modern way to honor those who are no longer with us -- putting QR codes on tombstones instead of inscriptions.

Cemetery visitors can use their phones to scan the QR code, which links them to a website with a biography of the deceased and photos from their life.

Rosario del Carmen Chacon, 75, visits the grave of a relative that bears a QR code at the General Cemetery in San Salvador
Rosario del Carmen Chacon, 75, visits the grave of a relative that bears a QR code at the General Cemetery in San Salvador AFP / Sthanly ESTRADA

"The idea is to remember our dead as they were in life, so that they are not forgotten, to keep their memory alive," Frederick Meza, who created the Memorial QR site, told AFP.

Meza installed the first QR code plaque in San Salvador's General Cemetery on the grave of his aunt Ana Lilian Chacon, a librarian who died in 2016.

Salvadoran photojournalist and historian Frederick Meza came up with the idea of installing a QR code on graves that, once scanned with a cell phone, links to a website with the deceased's biography and photos from their life
Salvadoran photojournalist and historian Frederick Meza came up with the idea of installing a QR code on graves that, once scanned with a cell phone, links to a website with the deceased's biography and photos from their life AFP / Sthanly ESTRADA

She "was like my second mother, she brought me closer to the world of literature to imagine stories," said Meza, 37, a photojournalist and historian. "That's why I am paying her this tribute."

On the western side of the cemetery, Meza put a second QR plaque on the grave of Ana Lilian's grandmother, Simona Chacon.

"It's like a more eternal tribute to loved ones, which transcends borders, because anyone who has the code can see the story," said Meza.

He charges a minimum of $50 to make a QR code and matching website, and plans to use the Day of the Dead celebrations on November 1 to draw attention to his work.

"I hope that people will adapt to this new way of paying tribute, because the QR code is... everywhere," he said. "It is already part of our daily life."