Buenos Aires, Argentina - January 2006 La Recoleta Cemetery
La Recoleta Cemetery is like New Orleans cemeteries with tombs and mausoleums above ground. It was a church graveyard until 1882 when the governor opened it to the general public and renamed it Cemetery of the North. It sits on the city's most valuable land and is the final resting place of many illustrious people. Evita Peron’s tomb is here, and hence, a must see for American tourists who are either Andrew Lloyd Webber or Madonna fans. Materials used in the construction of tombs between 1880 and 1930 were imported from Paris and Milan, and many important sculptures enhance the tombs. Apparently some of the tombs are worth upwards of a million dollars. Some were in very poor repair, and we saw people working on refurbishing–not workmen, but owners on do-it-yourself projects.
