In Buenos Aires there is a saying that “It’s cheaper to live extravagantly all your life than to be buried in Recoleta.” Cementerio de la Recoleta is the final resting place for the wealthiest and most prestigious of Argentina’s citizens . The cemetery is, indeed, a city of the dead . Wide streets and narrow passages crisscross through Recoleta Cemetery where it seems that everyone is buried in a mausoleum to spend eternity in a house of granite . Among the rich and famous buried here are Bartolomé Mitre (1821-1906), a soldier, journalist, and the sixth president of Argentina . Mitre has been described as one of the Argentina’s best writers and is well known for chronicling South America’s wars of independence . Marco Avellaneda (1813-1841) was the son of a prominent Argentine politician . He, himself, became governor of the Province of Tucumí¡n . He was put to death by the dictator Rosas who displayed Avellaneda’s head on a pike in the Plaza of Tucumí¡n . Valentine Alsina (1802-1869) was an Argentine lawyer and politician . He served as governor of Buenos Aires and as a member of the Argentine senate.
Entrance to Cementerio de la Recoleta
SOURCE: Entrance to Cementerio de la Recoleta (Buenos Aires, Argentina), photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 31 Dec 2010.
Tomb of Bartolomé Mitre (1821-1906)
SOURCE: Â Tomb of Bartolomé Mitre (1821-1906) (Buenos Aires, Argentina), photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 31 Dec 2010.
Tomb of Marco Avellaneda (1813-1841)
SOURCE: Â Tomb of Marco Avellaneda (1813-1841) (Buenos Aires, Argentina), photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 31 Dec 2010.
Tomb of Valentin Alsina (1802-1869)
SOURCE:  Tomb of Valentin Alsina (1802-1869) (Buenos Aires, Argentina), photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 31 Dec 2010.
Copyright © 2011 by Stephen J. Danko
