Throw out everything you know about dank, dreary cemeteries, Cemeteria Recoleta is an open-sky museum, containing graves and monuments to the dead that are far more grandiose than ghastly. A mere metro-ride away from the busiest suburbs of Argentina’s capital, this cemetery will enchant you immediately.

recoleta cemetery

**WHERE**: Central Buenos Aires, Argentina
**WHY**: Surprisingly beautiful historical landmark
**TIME**: 2-3 hours

UNDERSTAND

Designated the official public burial place for Buenos Aires in 1822, the cemetery has built up over 6400 graves over the (nearly) two centuries of service. Containing the graves of Argentinian and international luminaries alike, the cemetery contains a huge array of graves - each a unique homage to various art styles and periods. Compressing gothic chapels, local folklore and catholic symbolism into the one site, this point of interest is well worth your time.

Argentina

Our guide to Argentina

GETTING THERE

To get to the Recoleta Cemetery catch your nearest Metro to the Recoleta (get off at the Avenida del Libertador) and take the 5 minute walk the cemetery gates. There is a small entryway and tourist office that you’ll pass through - if you’re doing an organised tour this is where you’ll be meeting your guide. However, as this is a free attraction, you can pass right by the front desk and swoop on into the cemetery. When you enter into the cemetery proper, prepare yourself to feel somewhat overwhelmed - you’ll be surrounded by oftentimes towering mausoleums and bronze statues. Your first stop here is as to Recoleta as the Mona Lisa is to the Louvre - Eva Peron. Argentina’s most celebrated first lady has been interred here since the 1970’s (after being un-interred by the military junta in the 1950’s), and holds pride of place amidst the graves in a surprisingly nondescript location, with a small bronze plaque marking her place.

One of the many outstanding sculptures lining the graveyard

The cemetery, however, is bigger than Eva, and your next stop should be checking out the grave of Luis Ángel Firpo, a boxer whom was buried here in 1960 - you’ll know his grave from the telltale statue out front - a life size representation of the heavy hitter clad in his boxing attire. For a less hyper-masculine vibe, check out the grave of Liliana Crociati de Szaszak, where a statue of the 26 year old stands spectral, one hand on her dog, Sabú and the other clasping rosary beads. Her grave was made by her mother as a model of her childhood room, built entirely out of wood and glass after her daughter was killed by an avalanche in Austria. Head left around the cemetery to the large obelisk to find the last resting place for Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Argentina’s seventh president. Known for his promotion of education amongst children and women, and for introducing democracy to the country, the president is said to have designed the hugely self aggrandising monument (condor topping) included prior to his death.

Recoleta-Cemetery-Buenos-Aires-Domingo-Fausto-Sarmiento-Untapped-Cities.jpg

Next on your list of graves to check out is that of Tomás Guido. As a General in the Argentine War of Independence, Guido joined the revolution of May 1810. His son built his father’s stony vault in tribute, with his own hands. Take time to take the whole structure in, each new angle of the grave will add a new dimension to your experience here. One of the most ostentatious graves in Recoleta is the family gravesite of Dorrego-Ortiz Basualdo - a mausoleum built to house the wealthy landowners family. Look out for the celestial image of the sculpted virgin holding a candelabrum. Your last stop should be the most haunting, that of David Alleno, the former employee of the cemetery who is said to have spent his entire life savings buying a grave in his place of work. When he dies by suicide in in 1960 he was interred in the grave he had had worked so hard to pay for - legend has it the old employee haunts the courtyards and alleyways of the cemetery to this day.