La Recoleta Cemetery
Encyclopedia
La Recoleta Cemetery is a famous cemetery located in the exclusive Recoleta
neighbourhood of Buenos Aires
, Argentina
. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón
, Raúl Alfonsín
, and several presidents of Argentina
.
.
During the 1870s, following the epidemic of yellow fever
which ravaged the city, many upper-class Buenos Aires neighborhoods fled San Telmo and Montserrat and moved to the northern part of the city, Recoleta. By becoming a high class neighborhood, the cemetery became the final resting place of the families of greatest prestige and power of Buenos Aires.
The cemetery was remodeled in 1881, while Torcuato de Alvear
was mayor of the city, by the Italian architect Juan Antonio Buschiazzo
. The property contains room for about 4800 vaults, all above ground.
columns. The cemetery contains many elaborate marble mausoleum
s, decorated with statues, in a wide variety of architectural styles. The entire cemetery is laid out in sections like city blocks, with wide tree-lined main walkways branching into sidewalks filled with mausoleums.
While many of the mausoleums are in fine shape and well-maintained, others have fallen into disrepair. Several can be found with broken glass and littered with rubbish. Among many memorials are works by notable Argentine sculptors. The tomb of Liliana Crociati de Szaszak
is of special interest.
Each mausoleum bears the family name etched into the facade; brass or bronze
plaques are added to the front for particular family members. La Recoleta is one of those cemeteries where the tradition of engraving a death date but no birth date has been maintained.
The cemetery was featured in the educational film Destinos
as the final resting spot of a wife of the main character.
Some of the famous interred are:
Recoleta
Recoleta is a downtown residential neighborhood in the city of Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina; it is an area of great historical and architectural interest, due, particularly to the Recoleta Cemetery located there...
neighbourhood of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón
Eva Perón
María Eva Duarte de Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is often referred to as simply Eva Perón, or by the affectionate Spanish language diminutive Evita.She was born in the village of Los Toldos in...
, Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
, and several presidents of Argentina
President of Argentina
The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
.
History
The monks of the Order of the Recoletos arrived in this area, then the outskirts of Buenos Aires, in the early eighteenth century. The cemetery is built around their convent and a church, Our Lady of Pilar, built in 1732. The order was disbanded in 1822, and the garden of the convent was converted into the first public cemetery in Buenos Aires. Those responsible for its creation were the then-Governor Martin Rodríguez (buried here) and government minister, Bernardino Rivadavia. The 1822 layout was done by city architect and civil engineer Próspero Catelin, who also designed the current facade of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan CathedralBuenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral
The Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral is the main Catholic church in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the city center, overlooking Plaza de Mayo, on the corner of San Martín and Rivadavia streets, in the San Nicolás neighbourhood...
.
During the 1870s, following the epidemic of yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
which ravaged the city, many upper-class Buenos Aires neighborhoods fled San Telmo and Montserrat and moved to the northern part of the city, Recoleta. By becoming a high class neighborhood, the cemetery became the final resting place of the families of greatest prestige and power of Buenos Aires.
The cemetery was remodeled in 1881, while Torcuato de Alvear
Torcuato de Alvear
Torcuato de Alvear y Saenz de la Quintanilla was a 19th century Argentine conservative politician. He was the son of soldier and statesman Carlos María de Alvear and father of Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, president of Argentina from 1922 to 1928.In 1880 Buenos Aires was declared the capital city...
was mayor of the city, by the Italian architect Juan Antonio Buschiazzo
Juan Antonio Buschiazzo
Juan Antonio Buschiazzo was an Italian architect and engineer who contributed to the modernisation of Buenos Aires, Argentina in the 1880s and to the construction of the city of La Plata, the new capital of the Buenos Aires Province.Born in 1845 in Pontinvrea, Province of Savona, Liguria,...
. The property contains room for about 4800 vaults, all above ground.
Description
The entrance to the cemetery is through neo-classical gates with tall GreekAncient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
columns. The cemetery contains many elaborate marble mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
s, decorated with statues, in a wide variety of architectural styles. The entire cemetery is laid out in sections like city blocks, with wide tree-lined main walkways branching into sidewalks filled with mausoleums.
While many of the mausoleums are in fine shape and well-maintained, others have fallen into disrepair. Several can be found with broken glass and littered with rubbish. Among many memorials are works by notable Argentine sculptors. The tomb of Liliana Crociati de Szaszak
Tomb of Liliana Crociati de Szaszak
The tomb of Liliana Crociati de Szaszak is a tomb in Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires, Argentina, known for its unusual design.The 26 year old Liliana Crociati de Szaszak was honeymooning in Innsbruck, Austria on 26 February, 1970, when her hotel was struck by an avalanche, killing her...
is of special interest.
Each mausoleum bears the family name etched into the facade; brass or bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
plaques are added to the front for particular family members. La Recoleta is one of those cemeteries where the tradition of engraving a death date but no birth date has been maintained.
The cemetery was featured in the educational film Destinos
Destinos
Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish, also known simply as Destinos, is an educational television program created by Bill VanPatten, who was, at the time, Professor of Spanish and Second Language Acquisition at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. The show, designed to introduce viewers...
as the final resting spot of a wife of the main character.
Notable interments
- see also :Category:Burials at La Recoleta cemetery
Some of the famous interred are:
- Raúl AlfonsínRaúl AlfonsínRaúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
(1927–2009), presidentPresident of ArgentinaThe President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the... - Valentín AlsinaValentín Alsina*For the city, see Valentín Alsina, Buenos Aires.Valentín Alsina was an Argentine lawyer and politician.Alsina was born in Buenos Aires and studied law at the University of Córdoba. He occupied diverse posts in government, and had a successful civil career as an advocate and professor of law at...
(1802–1869), Governor of Buenos Aires Province. - Luis César AmadoriLuis César AmadoriLuis César Amadori was an Italian - Argentine film director and screenwriter and one of the most influential directors in the Cinema of Argentina of the classic era...
(1902–1977), poet, composer - Nicolás AvellanedaNicolás AvellanedaNicolás Remigio Aurelio Avellaneda Silva was an Argentine politician and journalist, and president of Argentina from 1874 to 1880. Avellaneda's main projects while in office were banking and education reform, leading to Argentina's economic growth...
(1837–1885), presidentPresident of ArgentinaThe President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the... - Susan BarrantesSusan BarrantesSusan Barrantes was an English aristocrat related to the House of Stuart and the mother of Sarah, Duchess of York, and the maternal grandmother of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of York.She was born Susan Mary Wright in Bramcote, Nottinghamshire, the daughter of FitzHerbert...
(1937–1998), mother of Sarah, Duchess of YorkSarah, Duchess of YorkSarah, Duchess of York is a British charity patron, spokesperson, writer, film producer, television personality and former member of the British Royal Family. She is the former wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, whom she married from 1986 to 1996...
. - Eduardo BradleyEduardo BradleyEduardo Bradley, born in the city of La Plata, Argentina, on April 9, 1887 embodied the Spirit of Aviation in Argentina where he was a major contributor in the funding of civil aviation. The son of Tomás Bradley Sutton, veteran of the Paraguayan War and of Mary Hayes O’Callaghan. Eduardo Bradley...
(1887–1951), aviator - Federico de BrandsenFederico de BrandsenCarlos Luis Federico de Brandsen was a Coronel of French origin who fought in many of the South American wars of independence and for Argentina in the War with Brazil.-Napoleonic Wars:...
(1785–1827), soldier - William Brown (admiral)William Brown (admiral)Admiral William Brown was an Irish-born Argentine Admiral. Brown's victories in the Independence War, the Argentina-Brazil War, and the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata earned the respect and appreciation of the Argentine people, and today he is regarded as one of Argentina's national...
(1777–1857), admiral, father of the Argentine Navy - Luis Maria Campos (1838–1907), general and founder of military school, monument designed by French sculptor Jules-Felix CoutanJules-Felix CoutanJules-Felix Coutan was a French sculptor and educator.- Life :As a student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Coutan was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1872; after his return to Paris he executed the fountain group France Bearing the Torch of Civilization for the Exposition Universelle , one of the two...
- Adolfo Bioy CasaresAdolfo Bioy CasaresAdolfo Bioy Casares was an Argentine fiction writer, journalist, and translator. He was a friend and collaborator with his fellow countryman Jorge Luis Borges, and wrote what many consider one of the best pieces of fantastic fiction, the novella The Invention of Morel.-Biography:Adolfo Bioy...
(1914–1999), writer - Miguel Juárez Celman (1844–1909), president
- Isabel Walewski Colonna (1847), grandchild of Napoleon Bonaparte, born in Buenos Aires
- Juan Manuel de RosasJuan Manuel de RosasJuan Manuel de Rosas , was an argentine militar and politician, who was elected governor of the province of Buenos Aires in 1829 to 1835, and then of the Argentine Confederation from 1835 until 1852...
(1793–1877), governor of Buenos Aires, caudilloCaudilloCaudillo is a Spanish word for "leader" and usually describes a political-military leader at the head of an authoritarian power. The term translates into English as leader or chief, or more pejoratively as warlord, dictator or strongman. Caudillo was the term used to refer to the charismatic... - Luis FirpoLuis FirpoLuis Ángel Firpo, , was an Argentine boxer. Born in Junín, Argentina, he was nicknamed "The Wild Bull of The Pampas."...
(1894–1960), heavyweight boxer, "The Wild Bull of the Pampas" - Oliverio GirondoOliverio GirondoOliverio Girondo was an Argentine poet. He was born in Buenos Aires to a relatively wealthy family, enabling him from a young age to travel to Europe, where he studied in both Paris and England...
(1891–1967), poet, journalist - José Hernández (1834–1886), writer
- Arturo Umberto IlliaArturo Umberto IlliaArturo Umberto Illia was President of Argentina from October 12, 1963, to June 28, 1966, and a member of the centrist UCR.-Biography:Arturo Umberto Illia was born August 4, 1900 in Pergamino, Buenos Aires Province, to Emma Francesconi and Martín Illia, Italian Argentine immigrants from the...
(1900–1983), president - Carlos Saavedra LamasCarlos Saavedra LamasCarlos Saavedra Lamas was an Argentine academic and politician, and in 1936, the first Latin American Nobel Peace Prize recipient.-Biography:...
(1878–1959), statesman, Nobel Peace Prize winner - Enrique LarretaEnrique LarretaEnrique Rodríguez Larreta was an Argentine writer, academic, diplomat and art collector.-Biography:Larreta was born in Buenos Aires to Adela Maza and Carlos Rodríguez Larreta...
(1875–1961), writer - Juan LavalleJuan LavalleJuan Galo de Lavalle was an Argentine military and political figure.-Biography:Lavalle was born in Buenos Aires to María Mercedes González Bordallo and Manuel José de La Vallée y Cortés, general accountant of rents and tobacco for the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.In 1799, the family moved to...
(1797–1841), general, governor of Buenos Aires province - Luis F. Leloir (1906–1987), scientist, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry
- Cándido LópezCándido LópezCándido López was an Argentine painter and soldier. Born in Buenos Aires, he is considered one of Argentina's most important artists. He is most famous for his detailed paintings and drawings of battles of the War of the Triple Alliance, in which he also fought, losing his right arm...
(1840–1902), painter and soldier - Vicente López y PlanesVicente López y PlanesAlejandro Vicente López y Planes was an Argentine writer and politician who acted as interim President of Argentina from July 7, 1827 to August 18, 1827...
(1785–1856), lyrcist, politician - Leopoldo LugonesLeopoldo LugonesLeopoldo Lugones Argüello was an Argentine writer and journalist.-Early life:Born in Villa de María del Río Seco, a city in Córdoba Province, in Argentina's Catholic heartland, Lugones belonged to a family of landed gentry...
(1874–1938), writer - Eduardo MalleaEduardo MalleaEduardo Mallea was an Argentine essayist, cultural critic, writer and diplomat. In 1931 he became editor of the literary magazine of La Nación.-Work:...
(1903–1982), novelist, essayist - Bartolomé MitreBartolomé MitreBartolomé Mitre Martínez was an Argentine statesman, military figure, and author. He was the President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868.-Life and times:...
(1821–1906), writer, president - Victoria OcampoVictoria OcampoVictoria Ocampo Aguirre was an Argentine writer and intellectual, described by Jorge Luis Borges as La mujer más argentina ....
(1890–1979), writer, publisher - José Clemente PazJosé C. PazJosé Clemente Paz was an Argentine statesman, diplomat and journalist, founder of the La Prensa newspaper....
(1842–1912), statesman and journalist, with a monument designed by French sculptor Jules-Felix CoutanJules-Felix CoutanJules-Felix Coutan was a French sculptor and educator.- Life :As a student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Coutan was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1872; after his return to Paris he executed the fountain group France Bearing the Torch of Civilization for the Exposition Universelle , one of the two... - Carlos PellegriniCarlos PellegriniCarlos Enrique José Pellegrini Bevans was President of Argentina from 6 August 1890 to 12 October 1892....
(1846–1906), president - Comandante Luis PiedrabuenaComandante Luis PiedrabuenaComandante Luis Piedrabuena is a town with 4,175 inhabitants in the department of Corpen Aike in Santa Cruz province in Argentina.Located on the left bank of the Santa Cruz river on Ruta Nacional N° 3, it is 231 km from the city of Río Gallegos and 467 km from Caleta Olivia.It was first settled by...
(1833–1883), explorer - Maria Eva Duarte de PerónEva PerónMaría Eva Duarte de Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is often referred to as simply Eva Perón, or by the affectionate Spanish language diminutive Evita.She was born in the village of Los Toldos in...
(1919–1952), first Lady of Argentina - Honorio PueyrredónHonorio PueyrredónHonorio Pueyrredón was an Argentine lawyer, university professor, diplomat and politician.Born in San Pedro, Buenos Aires, Pueyrredón graduated at the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires in 1896, were he would also later teach.Originally affiliated to the National Civic Union, he...
(1876–1945), educator, statesman - Dante QuinternoDante QuinternoDante Quinterno was an Argentine comics artist, famous for being the creator of the Patoruzú, Isidoro Cañones and Patoruzito characters....
(1909–2003), cartoonist - Juan Facundo QuirogaJuan Facundo QuirogaJuan Facundo Quiroga was an Argentine caudillo who supported federalism at the time when the country was still in formation.-Early years:...
(1790–1835), caudilloCaudilloCaudillo is a Spanish word for "leader" and usually describes a political-military leader at the head of an authoritarian power. The term translates into English as leader or chief, or more pejoratively as warlord, dictator or strongman. Caudillo was the term used to refer to the charismatic...
(subject of the book FacundoFacundoFacundo: Civilization and Barbarism is a book written in 1845 by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a writer and journalist who became the seventh president of Argentina...
; Sarmiento's most famous work;) - Zenón RolónZenón RolónZenón Rolón was an Afro Argentine musician and composer. Born in Buenos Aires, he composed approximately 80 works including operas, operettas, zarzuelas and sacred music. Rolón also founded a music publishing company which published numerous works by contemporary Argentine composers...
(1856–1902), Afro ArgentineAfro ArgentineThe black population resulting from the slave trade during the centuries of Spanish domination of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata had a major role in Argentine history...
musician and composer - Domingo Sarmiento (1811–1888), writer, former president, under a monument designed by himself and executed by sculptor Victor de PolVictor de PolVictor de Pol was a sculptor most active in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Born in Venice, de Pol was a student of Giulio Monteverde. He immigrated to Argentina at the age of 22 and participated in the development of La Plata, designing Beaux-Arts-style sculpture for major public buildings...
(also buried here) - Eduardo WildeEduardo WildeEduardo Wilde was an Argentine physician, politician, and writer, and among the most prominent intellectual figures of the modernizing Generation of '80 in Argentina.-Life and times:...
(June 15, 1844 — September 5, 1913) was an Argentine physician, politician, and writer - Hipólito YrigoyenHipólito YrigoyenJuan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Irigoyen Alem was twice President of Argentina . His activism became the prime impetus behind the obtainment of universal suffrage in Argentina in 1912...
(1852–1933), politician, former president
External links
- Ciudad de Angeles, Historia del Cementerio de la Recoleta - Omar Lopez Mato
- The Recoleta Cemetery Guide