Cemetery

Recoleta Cemetery is one of the most well-known world Cementeries due to its beauty and history.

Nuestra Señora del Pilar Church (Currently, Basilica and declared National Historic Monument) built in 1732, belonged to the Franciscan order. When the order was dissolved in 1822, the convent orchard was declared Public Cementery by the president Bernardino Rivadavia, who entrusted the design to the French Próspero Catelin.

As it is explained in the section “Neighborhood”, Recoleta was settled by medium high social classes, a process that had its peak in 1871 during the yellow fever epidemic which struck Buenos Aires. Due to this, the Cementery became a place to rest in peace for all the wealthiest and celebrated men of the city. Nowadays, this characteristic adds value to the sculptural and artistic style.

A Neo-classical gate with high columns decorate the entrance.It has several marble mausoleums, majestically decorated with statues allegoric to the spirit and encapsulated in various architectural styles.

The Cementery is laid out in sections like city blocks, where deceased people rest in crypts and vaults, with avenues and lateral streets.

It is important to emphasize the sculpture of Christ made by the sculptor Zonza Briano placed in the central roundabout as well as some of the personalities and celebrities that are buried here: María Eva Duarte de Perón (Evita), Leopoldo Lugones (Argentinian writer), Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (Argentinian president and promoter of public education), Juan Manuel de Rosas (Governor of Buenos Aires), Victoria Ocampo (Argentian writer and founder of the magazine “Sur”), Luis Federico Leloir (Nobel Prize in Chemistry), Leandro N. Alem (Argentine politician, founder of Unión Cívica Radical) and Adolfo Bioy Casares (Argentinian writer).

The cemetery is laid out like a well planned city (necropolis: city of the dead) with streets and avenues which have proper names and mini squares with seats to rest.

It is advisable to visit the Cementery in the morning because it closes quite early (at 6 pm) and there is a lot to see (and perhaps you will not have the opportunity to return) that is why it is better to have a lot of time ahead.