Cementerio de la Recoleta

For the living and dead alike, Recoleta is Buenos Aires’s most prestigious address. The roster of residents within its walls represents wealth and power as surely as the inhabitants of surrounding Francophile mansions and luxury apartment towers hoard their assets in overseas bank accounts. Arguably, the cemetery is even more exclusive than the neighborhood—enough cash can buy an impressive residence, but not a surname like Alvear, Anchorena, Mitre, Pueyrredón, or Sarmiento.

Seen from the air, the cemetery seems exactly what it is—an orderly necropolis of narrow alleyways lined by ornate mausoleums and crypts that mimic the architectural styles of the city’s early 20th-century belle epoque. Crisscrossed by a few wide diagonals, but with little greenery, it’s a densely depopulated area that receives hordes of Argentine and foreign tourists during opening hours.

Many, if not most, go to visit the crypt of Eva Perón, who overcame her humble origins with a relentless ambition that brought her to the pinnacle of political power with her husband, General and President Juan Perón, before her painful death from cancer in 1952. Even Juan Perón, who lived until 1974 but spent most of his post-Evita years in exile, failed to qualify for Recoleta; he lies across town in the Cementerio de la Chacarita.

There were other ways into Recoleta, however. One unlikely resident is boxer Luis Angel Firpo (1894–1960), the “wild bull of the Pampas,” who nearly defeated Jack Dempsey for the world heavyweight championship in New York in 1923. Firpo, though, had pull—one of his sponsors was Félix Bunge, a powerful landowner whose family owns some of the cemetery’s most ornate constructions.

Endless economic crises, though, have had an impact on one of the world’s grandest graveyards. Even casual visitors will notice that many mausoleums have fallen into disrepair, as once-moneyed families can no longer afford their maintenance. Municipal authorities, recognizing its importance to tourism, have intensified overdue repairs to sidewalks and the most significant sculptures, but still face budget problems.

The Cementerio de la Recoleta (Junín 1790, tel. 011/4803-1594, 7 a.m.–6 p.m. daily) is the site for many guided on-demand tours through travel agencies; the municipal tourist office sponsors occasional free weekend tours.