We began our tour of Buenos Aires with a visit to the Recoleta Cemetery where the controversial Eva Peron is now buried. Recoleta, the first public cemetery in Buenos Aires, holds over 6,000 statues and mausoleums dedicated to the wealthy and famous citizens of the city, including Nobel Prize winners and past presidents.
The highlight of our visit was the tomb of Eva Peron. She is now buried with her own family the Duartes. Eva's rise from poverty to the first lady of Argentina was memorialized in Weber and Rice's famous musical, Evita. Madonna portrayed her when the musical became a movie. On one hand, she led the fight for women's suffrage (the right to vote) and was a strong supporter of worker's rights as well as fighting for families in poverty. On the other hand, she and her husband, Juan Peron, were accused of corruption and offered sanctuary to Nazi war criminals fleeing Germany in the aftermath of World War II. Evita died young of cancer three years before her husband was ousted by a military coup. Declared the "Spiritual Leader of the Nation" she was granted a state funeral and the nation plunged into mourning. However, when Peron was deposed, her body was stolen, likely to prevent her from being viewed as a martyr and rallying opposition. It disappeared for 20 years until Peron, in exile in Spain, arranged for the theft of the body of the military leader who exiled him. A trade was made and Evita's body was returned to Peron. Peron eventually returned to Argentina where he was elected President for his 3rd term. However, he died in office and was succeeded by his third wife, Isabella. Isabella brought Evita's remains back to Argentina and buried them in Eva's family's unassuming tomb - 5 meters underground to prevent another theft.
However, the Recoleta contains many other stories as well.
The tragic Felicitas Guerrero is buried in the mausoleum below. In the late 1800s she was the wealthiest and most beautiful woman in Argentina. Widowed in her early 20s, she fell in love and was to be remarried when she was murdered by a jealous suitor who had become obsessed with her. Some people claim she haunts her tomb, one of many ghost stories of Recoleta.
In 1914, the sculptor Pedro Zona Briano created this sculpture of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). It is located in what was the center of the Recoleta and reflects the moonlight at night.
This tomb of the family of the wealthy landowner Dorrego-Ortiz Basualdo is the largest and likely the most expensive mausoleum with stained glass windows and an Italian statue of a young maiden lighting a candelabrum symbolizing salvation. It was designed as a chapel by the Italian sculptor, Louis Dubois.
Jose Coelho de Mayrelles, a Portuguese explorer, was given land in the area that was to become the Mar del Plata. A wealthy landowner and businessman, he started the first meat-salting plant in the area. However, when his business eventually failed, he declared bankruptcy and fell into poverty. However, his mausoleum in the Recoleta remained.
The eye-catching statue beside Coelho's tomb, represents the hope of immigrants to Argentina. The Roverano family came to Argentina from Italy and established a gas confectionary (candy shop) which would have the honor of being the first shop in the area to have electric lamps. Their candy store was in the same location that would become Tortonis, the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires. (We will eat their later in the afternoon.) They later opened up their own cafe in friendly competition.
Liliana Crociati tragically died in an avalanche in Austria while on her honeymoon. Her grieving family commissioned this life size sculpture of her in her wedding dress. When her beloved dog, Sabu, also died, his statue joined hers. Her father wrote a poem of his grief for her which is also displayed on her memorial.
When you buy a plot in the Recoleta, it is yours unless you sell it. However, there is an annual cost for maintenance. Sadly, when that fee is no longer paid, the tombs fall into disrepair. Although should their decay pose a danger to the public, the city will step in an repair them.
Here is an example of one tomb no longer being maintained.
A drive around the city revealed other landmarks such as the English Tower, a clock tower gifted to Buenos Aires on its 100th anniversary by the descendants of British immigrants to the city.
Another statue depicted Don Quixote astride his horse Rocinante. This character from Miguel de Cervantes' novel gave life to the idiom, "tilting at windmills".
We stopped for coffee and snacks (ham and cheese sandwiches and sweet croissants) at Tortoni's, the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires.
The landmark buildings in Buenos Aires adopt a variety of architectural styles. The Custom's House was built with a neo-classicist French style.
The Kirchner Cultural Center was built with a neo-Renaissance style.
Other buildings embrace a more modern style.
We stopped at the Plaza de Mayo, named for the May 25, 1810 Revolution which fought for the independence of Argentina from Spanish rule. At the center is the Pyramid of May built in honor of the first anniversary of the revolution. It has also become the center of protest for the "Mothers of Plaza de Mayo". Every Thursday the mothers, now grandmothers, march around the pyramid protesting the disappearance of their children who were abducted during the military takeover of Argentina in 1976 following the rule of Isabella Peron. Now that democracy is restored to Argentina, a large part of their protest is their search for their grandchildren who were taken after birth to those in captivity and put up for adoption around the world. They wear white scarves that symbolize diapers, calling to mind the babies they raised who were disappeared as well as their missing grandchildren.
On the perimeter of the square is the Buenos Aires Metropolitan where Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, once held mass.
Also along the square is the Cabildo, the town hall of Buenos Aires when it was under the colonial rule of Spain. Now it is a national history museum remembering the days of Spanish rule and the revolution.
Our final stop was in the district of La Boca, home to Argentina's World-Cup-winning football (soccer) team, La Boca Juniors. We passed by their home stadium La Bombederia and saw many tributes to them and their star player Lionel Messi who made the winning goal that gave them the 2022 World Cup.
The bus dropped us off at El Caminito with its brightly painted shops and buildings where the poor Italian immigrants once lived in tenements. The multi-colors of each building in this port district happened because they did not have enough money to buy paint to paint their houses, so instead they used the leftover paint from boats. This gave the neighborhood, a colorful, artistic flair.
Now El Caminito attracts thousands of tourists a day. Shops fill their upper windows with figures of famous people. These colorful figures adorn the street as well as the inside of the shops.
Bas reliefs honor La Boca's history as a port district and the immigrants who made it their home.
A statue honors the brave firefighters who rescued the residents of tenements when fires would break out in the wooden buildings.
It was a pleasant first excursion after a hectic arrival when our flight from Houston was delayed to Sunday morning and we didn't arrive at the cruise ship until 11:00 at night! (Luckily the ship was overnighting in Buenos Aires.)
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