Walkways in the Cemetery
Statue of a Girl Who Was Buried Alive
Individual Family Crypts
Posing in the Cemetery
The Burial Place of Eva Duarte y Peron
The Cats of Recoleta
On our first visit to Buenos Aires no one bothered to take us to La Recoleta Cemetery which is where the wealthy Portenos are buried above ground in mausoleums on grounds covering four square blocks. It is said in Buenos Aires that while it is important to live in the La Recoleta area, it is even more important to be buried in La Recoleta cemetery. On this visit, the "city of the dead" was one of the most important stops on a guided tour because now most people are familiar its most famous occupant due to the movie EVITA. In 1986 I had to ask the guide of our tour where Eva Peron was buried, and he mentioned while driving through the Recoleta area of the city that she was buried nearby. How funny that a movie can make such a difference. In any case, this time we stopped at the cemetery and spent half an hour there wandering up and down the walkways of marble buildings and statues. Some of the bigger buildings are the size of small chapels. One large mausoleum with a statue of a young girl was built after the girl depicted in the statue was found to have been buried alive while she must have been in a coma when the body was moved so that a new body could be placed inside. The body of Eva Peron, although it had been embalmed and on display years ago, is today buried in the building of her father's family. She was an illegitimate child whose father didn't hide her birth, but the body wasn't placed where it is today until many years later due to a long incredible journey that included being on display after she was dead and being hidden. In the cemetery I spoke with a lady who was feeding some cats. She told me that the people of Buenos Aires turned their unwanted cats loose in the cemetery and that she made sure they were vaccinated and fed.
Click a picture to see a larger view.
Walkways in the Cemetery
Statue of a Girl Who Was Buried Alive
Individual Family Crypts
Posing in the Cemetery
The Burial Place of Eva Duarte y Peron
The Cats of Recoleta