Call me weird, but I enjoy wandering around cemeteries (Don't judge me! :) Not your average U.S. cemetery though but the old European ones, where the graves themselves are works of art. I find the experience to be very peaceful and I love admiring the splendid craftsmanship and architecture. Who wouldn't right?! So going to see Cementerio de la Recoleta was on the top of my “Must-see in Buenos Aires” list. Cementerio de la Recoleta is a famous cemetery in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Recoleta is where BA’s wealthiest citizens live, so having a cemetery for the city’s elite in the area was a no brainer. Former presidents, military generals, artists, influential politicians and, most famously, Eva Perón, are buried here. Have I mentioned how much I love the movie Evita with Madonna?! Well, I LOVE it! And who wouldn't love to watch a singing Antonio Banderas?! So in reality, I was on a secret mission to find Eva's grave as well as take some pictures of great cemetery architecture. Let's just start off by saying "Holy cow, I have never seen anything like this in my life!" This cemetery is very impressive!! The whole area is paved from wall to wall and divided into what looks like city blocks with sidewalks. At times I felt as though I was walking through a city instead of a cemetery. Not only is the layout very different, but the graves themselves are no ordinary graves... they are massive family mausoleums that resemble small houses. Some were smaller but others were so huge and impressive that they simply took my breath away! The architecture is absolutely amazing – styles ranging from Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Baroque, Neo-Gothic, and even modern. There is no shortage of statues either! Stunning angels graze the top of mausoleum domes, lions protect the entrances, saints are praying, and a plethora of religious figures are watching over the graves. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it! Recoleta is a great example of Buenos Aires from the past, the golden age from 1880-1930s, when Argentina was one of the world's richest countries. This is when the social elite would commission architects from Europe to build their family mausoleums and no expense was spared! The thing that freaked me out the most was the fact that you could actually see the coffins inside the mausoleums. The coffins are placed (not buried), some were in plain view and others were placed lower in the basement part of the building. I couldn’t believe I was actually walking around in the midst of all the coffins. This was not the peaceful cemetery experience I was hoping for! The other bizarre part, well bizarre to a foreigner that has never seen a cemetery like this, was the fact that some of the mausoleums main entry doors were broken and the building was filled with trash as well as other debris. You could literally just reach your hand right into the building and touch the coffins! So....so....creepy! As soon as I got over the coffin shock, which took quite a bit actually, I was able to admire the impressive architecture of the mausoleums. For the first time in BA, I felt safe and could wondered around freely without clinching my camera. Cementerio de la Recoleta is very big and sprawls on 14 acres and has 4691 vaults, so I made my way back and forth until I found Eva Peron’s grave. The grave was a bit hard to find but as instructed by my travel book I just followed a tour group. It was tucked between similarly sized mausoleums on a smaller side street. Sadly, I have to admit it wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be. The mausoleum was made of out dark marble it was very modern compared to the others in the cemetery. There was also a herd of tourists (big surprise!) so I stood in line, took a picture, admired the bronze plaques of Eva Peron and moved on. After paying my respects to Eva Peron I continued my zigzag through this city of the dead. I really didn’t feel the need to see the mausoleums of other famous Argentines, I just wanted to enjoy this wonderful architecture and get lost for a while. Here is a fun fact, do you remember watching Destinos in your high school Spanish class?! The soap opera in which lawyer Raquel Rodríguez is hired by Don Fernando to uncover a family mystery. (Haha! I had to Google it because like most people I hardly paid attention in Spanish class.) Well, a part of the episode was actually filmed at Recoleta! Check out Episode 12 at the 16:50 minute mark. Some parts of the cemetery were simply stunning but other parts, or actual crypts, creeped me out. Some coffins were totally out, actually busting through the crypt itself. Parts of the doors were missing and older coffins laid exposed. I saw bones spilling out! Yes, human bones! I’m still not completely sure why they were put in, what looks like wine crates, but regardless seeing bones in a cemetery was just a bit too much for me. That was my cue to leave!
2 Comments
Anna
10/13/2012 02:54:44 am
Great pics! You were in my old neighborhood.....I lived on the corner of Callao and Libertador :)
Michelle Pirpinias
10/25/2012 05:45:58 am
Wow this is an amazing article, and fantastic shots you have taken. We went there today and really enjoyed the experience. Am doing some research now, as I am not sure why some caskets (smaller ones) just had human bones, as opposed to the whole body. Am still to get an answer to that. Anyhow, I was wondering where you saw the crates with actual bones spilling out? We would like to go back and see if we can find it. Thanks! Leave a Reply. |