The City of the Dead: A Walk through Recoleta Cemetery

La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina is home to many famous and important Argentines, including Eva Perón and several presidents of Argentina.

I got the chance to visit the cemetery where I was working with the International Honors Program as the Trustees Fellow on the “Cities in the 21st Century” semester abroad. (A note to any undergraduate students out there interested in urban planning, international development, public health, and global studies: be sure to check out IHP’s range of amazing study abroad programs.)

What was most striking to me about the cemetery is how urban it is. Not only are the aisles between the mausoleums strikingly like city streets, but the cemetery itself is surrounded by tall buildings.

Many of the graves and monuments show incredible detail, including life-like sculptures. This one shows Salvador María del Carril, an important figure in the early days of Argentine history.

I learned a little more about del Carril from the AfterLife blog:

Born in San Juan in 1789, Del Carril studied law & moved to Buenos Aires to participate in national politics. He firmly supported President Rivadavia & encouraged General Juan Lavalle to shoot his childhood friend, Manuel Dorrego, thinking it would prevent civil war. It didn’t.

Says the New York Times:

Recoleta Cemetery is one of the world’s extraordinary graveyards, a study in architecture and sculpture, a country’s history, mores and soul. A number of tombs are national historic monuments. It is a place of spiritual beauty and extravagant taste. And thanks to Madonna and Broadway, it is hotter than ever as a tourist attraction. Travelers stream through the portal, cameras in hand, and ask the custodians the way to ”Evita.” Some even ask for ”Madonna.”

The graves show varying signs of age; some are remarkably well-kept, others are showing wear.

I love this statue in particular. It’s Liliana Crociati de Szaszak, who was killed while honeymooning in Austria in 1970. Her story has inspired urban legends. The dog is named Sabú.

Says Lonely Planet:

It is great theatre, the city of the dead. Walking its labyrinth, one encounters a silent opera. Look and you spy a cherub, cast in white stone, dancing on a street corner. Crying widows, fashioned from stone, suckle infants on the steps of tombs. At the doors to great mausoleums, hooded virgins stare forlornly downwards, palms spread in mute, anguished supplication. Grieving mothers shaped from marble lay prostrate on the lids of stone caskets. This is hushed, thrilling theatre, almost mocking in its silence. Atop cupolas, winged angels, hair in tresses, hark and blow trumpets. Their blasts go unheard.

Anyone visiting Buenos Aires should certainly include a stop by Recoleta Cemetary. Plan to wander for an hour or two and take in the facilitating history of this remarkable city.