Arguably the biggest tourist attraction in Buenos Aires is Recoleta Cemetery, home to Eva Peron’s tomb, which is arguably the least interesting tomb in Recoleta. Santiago also has a cemetery in it’s own suburb of Recoleta, which is many times larger than its Buenos Aires equivalent, home to 2 million graves, tombs and sepulchures over more than 220 hectares. General Cementerio de Recoleta is so big, it has its own Metro station. Interestingly, the Metro station is not at the main entrance, but off to the side, sharing the entrance with vehicular cemetery visitors. Which creates many opportunities for getting lost. As does the lack of a map of its layout.
Entering the cemetery from the Metro station, Cementerios, you can either proceed straight ahead, or turn right and get a totally misleading impression of this cemetery. Of course, I turn right. This is the busiest cemetery I have ever seen – beyond Buenos Aires’ Recoleta, beyond Paris’ Pere Lachaise. It is not a tourist destination – these are all locals tending graves and mausoleums. This end of the cemetery has mausoleums three storeys high, in various states of disrepair, and many single graves, also in various condition. In the photo below, the graves are 15 years old, but look many years older – the original white paint on the crosses and the inscriptions have faded away, weeds choke what is left of the collapsed soil in the plots.
The area in the photo below is nearby, and has single plots from the last 2 years. The families tending the graves here have improvised shade through awnings, applied astro turf to the top of the plots, and decorated the graves with flowers, flags and whirly-gigs.
The layout of the cemetery mirrors the layout of Santiago. Close to the main entrance, the tombs are the ornate style of the uber-rich, similar to Pere Lachaise in layout and architecture. As the cemetery moves from the late 19th century to current day, it transitions from large family tombs, to more modest family plots, through to simple individual graves.
Santiago’s Recoleta has its share of startling architecture, the tomb below is that of Claudio Vicuna.
There is also evidence of earthquake damage from earlier this year, several of the older tombs have collapsed, some are being repaired, others are just rubble. The difference between the main entrance and the Metro entrance to the cemetery is remarkable – the image below shows the impression that visitors using the main entrance receive.
There is method to the madness of the astro turf and awnings in the newer, less established section of the cemetery – the baking sun dries out the soil, which collapses, and fades the paintwork and colours of the decorations and, as I notice later that evening, creates interesting sun burn patterns on my feet.
