Opened in 1822, this is the city’s first public cemetery and one of the world’s most visited burial grounds. With over 4691 mausoleums (many in marble and bronze), it’s easy to spend a peaceful afternoon exploring its labyrinthine alleyways. As the final resting place for Argentina’s most influential families, it is as much a museum as it is a cemetery.
Evita
Of course, the most famous inhabitant and the vault most tourists make a beeline for is that of Eva Perón nee Duarte. About 200m to the left of the main entrance, the Duarte family mausoleum is relatively humble but always adorned with bunches of fresh flowers. Although she died in 1952, her body wasn’t interred here until the 1970s. Evita lies in a heavily fortified crypt some five meters underground, to protect her remains.
City of the Dead
Once the vegetable garden of the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Pilar next door (well worth a step inside), the cemetery is the resting place of over 20 of Argentina’s former presidents (including Sarmiento and Raúl Alfonsín), alongside literary greats, such as Victoria Ocampo and Adolfo Bioy Casares, Nobel Prize winners and military commanders such as Julio Argentino Roca.
Amongst the famous names are lesser-known figures. Look out for the mausoleum of Liliana Crociati, who died on her honeymoon. Her parents reconstructed her bedroom within her tomb and you’ll spot Liliana in her wedding dress, with her beloved pet dog at her side.
