“Do you like art?” A woman in Villa la Angostura asks me when we talk about my trip to Buenos Aires. “You should visit the cemetery. It’s beautiful.” Not quite what I expected as an answer. But I was well situated to visit it. My hostel’s 7th floor reception area overlooks the Recoleta cemetery. The wall is pretty much all window and I must say that it’s an impressive view.
On a walking tour through the 2 blocks long cemetery I learn it has close to 5000 family mausoleums. They are private property. Just like a house, you buy the land, build on it and then pay taxes on your property. It came into existence when the rich moved away from the original city to escape the diseases that were spreading rapidly. Previously the regular folk was burried here, but they were excavated and moved, so that the fancy people could build there tombs and mausoleums. It was another way to show their wealth and whole statues were shipped from Italy and France. One family even built a small church so they could even have the funeral service there. The mausoleums have up to 5 floors underground!
There were a lot of stories in the cemetery and we stopped at several mausoleums. There was the statue of the young woman who died in an avalanche, the military men, the presidents, the teacher who was invited to develop a school system way back when, the only dog in the cemetery, the husband and wife who didn’t speak anymore. It was a 2 hour walk filled with stories and legends. I think it really added to the experience since it’s a bit overwhelming to walk through such a big place. Forgive the pun, but the stories brought the place to life.
Of course not everyone can maintain the structures. Sometimes the last person in a family dies and some distant family member inherits the property and its taxes. Those who can’t or won’t pay for it can sell. There’s a waiting list of 2 years to get a nice house here for the afterlife! I saw 2 plots where there was construction, but apparently the rules to rebuild are quite strict to preserve the heritage. Having said that, a rich business man was doing renovations to his future tomb. It’s all about connections. There are tombs that would cost about 2,5 million dollars if they’d have to be build now with the same materials.
And yet there is a lot of neglect in the cemetery as well. The famous Evita lies in one of the mausoleums. Apparently a controversial figure that was hated by the rich, her interment made prices in that area of the cemetery drop and there were even families who cleared their tombs so their loved ones wouldn’t have to lie next to her. There are a lot of sad, seemingly deserted mausoleums there. But also in other areas I saw ones where the covers had fallen down and coffins were exposed. Spiderwebs were covering beautiful statues and gates. If you peaked inside you saw buckets of rubbish rather than peace.
It’s still an active cemetery. People still get burried there. So it’s a bit strange to see so many people. To see big tour groups. To see kids running around. I’m not sure the dead can find peace here. But hey, at least many people get to stare at their wealth in wonder. If your story is good enough, you may even be remembered and spoken about by one of the guides. Well, presuming your family cares enough to pay the taxes.
