Recoleta Cemetery


The famous cemetery in the wealthy barrio of Recoleta in Buenos Aires is like a small concrete city, with mausoleums towering over passers-by. It's surrounded by high walls and it houses the wealthy and elite as they try to absorb as much of their wealth in death as they once did in life.

Each house-like tomb contains several coffins - which, peering through the doors, you can see placed on shelves above and below ground. Although the wood of the coffins have maintained their integrity over the centuries, no amount of money prevents the corpses within from being levelled to common ground.

Among the several presidents, scientists and wealthy people buried here lies Domingo Sarmiento (writer) and Eve PerĂ³n (aka Evita, aka Madonna).