The rich and the dead

Buenos Aries is divided into a number of barrios.  Recoleta is the most exclusive neighborhood and was populated when upper-class portenos fled the yellow fever out breaks of the 1870s.  Even more exclusive than the neighborhood, after all anyone with money can buy property, is the cemetery.  You must have a surname of one of the ruling families to get into Cementerio de la Recoleta.

Good taste is not a requirement.  The goal is to outshine in death those that you couldn’t in life

Some of the statuary is quite beautiful, but in general the artist are unknown.  This is not because they used unknown artists.  Most of the work was imported from France and includes people like Rodin.  But if the artist is know, then it is art and it is taxed. One constant in the Argentine upper classes is that they do not like to pay any taxes.

Interestingly, and I’m not sure what this says about Argentinean culture, most of the statuary is of women.  It seems that Argentine men may need a lot of feminine intervention to get into heaven.

 

 

More photos of cemetary