Monday, January 3, 2011

Pictures from Argentina part tres, Recoleta Cemetery

Here we are heading into Recoleta Cemetery. I was impressed with the British phone booths and pillar boxes in BA.

This is a cenotaph. The family has moved the bodies. Families buy the tombs in Recoleta and if the tomb is sold, the bodies must be removed. The statue represents an Italian immigrant with one foot on his boat and one on his new country.

This is the most famous tomb in the cemetery, the Duarte family tomb.

This woman was killed by an avalanche on her honeymoon (in either Switzerland or Austria). She is portrayed in her wedding dress with her childhood dog. It is good luck to stroke his nose. We all did.

This is the tomb of a woman who was buried alive. She was preparing for a party to celebrate her 19th birthday and had a fit. She was buried quickly, too quickly. In Argentina, it is the custom to see the coffins from outside the tomb. Someone noticed that her coffin had moved and it turned out she had died trying to escape from her coffin.


This tomb is the replica of one in Italy. The Argentines would order tombs from Europe.

Pictures from Argentina part dos, Drinks with the Ambassador!





Pictures from Argentina