Recoleta Cemetery

Recoleta Cemetery is the most extraordinary place in Buenos Aires, and one of the great cemeteries of the world. Founded in 1822 in the former vegetable garden of the Recoleto friars, whose church of Nuestra Señora del Pilar still stands next door, it was the city's first public cemetery and soon became the place where the Argentine elite chose to spend eternity. The result is a walled city of the dead laid out on a grid of streets and avenues, with close to five thousand vaults built in every style the nineteenth and twentieth centuries could afford: Greek temples, Gothic chapels, art nouveau fantasies, Egyptian pyramids and stark modernist blocks, decorated with marble angels, bronze doors and stained glass, many made by European sculptors and shipped across the Atlantic. Walking its alleys is like turning the pages of Argentine history. Presidents lie here, among them Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and Raúl Alfonsín, alongside generals of the independence wars, Nobel laureates, writers and boxers. The most visited tomb by far is the modest black granite vault of the Duarte family, where Eva Perón, Evita, was finally laid to rest in 1976 after her body's long and strange journey through Europe, buried deep beneath the floor to deter thieves; there are almost always flowers on its railings. Other tombs carry stories that guides love to tell: the art nouveau tomb of Rufina Cambaceres, the young woman said to have been buried alive in 1902; the mausoleum of Liliana Crociati, who died in an avalanche on her honeymoon and is shown in bronze in her wedding dress beside the statue of her dog; and the black stone Paz family mausoleum with its allegorical figures. The cemetery is also home to a famous population of cats who sun themselves on the marble.

Visiting well: the cemetery opens daily through the daytime, from the morning until the late afternoon, and the entrance is through the neoclassical gateway on Calle Junín, beside the basilica. Since 2024 foreign visitors pay an entry fee while Argentine residents enter free; the fee is modest, roughly the price of a coffee and a pastry in dollar terms, and it is paid by card at the entrance or online, so do not rely on cash. Pick up a map at the entrance or download one in advance, because the layout is confusing and many famous tombs are not signposted; following the crowds will lead you to Evita, but the rest takes a plan. The city runs free guided visits in Spanish on several days a week, and private guides and walking tours cover it in English, which adds a great deal, since the stories behind the tombs are the real attraction. Respect the fact that this is still a working cemetery with funerals and families visiting their dead.

The best time is the morning, when the light falls along the main avenues and the tour groups have not yet arrived, or the late afternoon, when the marble glows. Allow at least an hour, and two if you like photography. Some vaults are open and visibly decaying, others are immaculate and still in use, and the contrast is part of the fascination. Wear comfortable shoes, as the paving is uneven, and bring water in summer, because there is little shade in some sections.

The cemetery sits at the centre of Recoleta's best afternoon. Next door, the eighteenth-century Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar has a small cloister museum, and the Centro Cultural Recoleta, in the friars' old convent, hosts free exhibitions. On weekends the craft fair of Plaza Francia fills the slopes below with stalls, and the giant trees of the plazas, including a famous ombú and a gomero with branches propped on crutches, shade the cafés of the area. Walk on to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, which is free, and the Floralis Genérica, the giant steel flower on the Plaza de las Naciones Unidas, then finish with a drink on the terraces of Avenida Alvear. It is the most elegant corner of the city and, cemetery included, the one first-time visitors remember most.