Cemetery, Plazas, and Puerto Madero: Week 13 / Day 88 / April 8
Buenos Aires, Argentina: We left the apartment this morning to visit La Recoleta Cemetery, Plaza de Mayo, Plaza Dorrego, and visit the Puerto Madero area. We headed in the opposite direction from where we went yesterday and saw all new parks.
In addition to having lots of parks, it is also clear that Argentinians love them some big, wide boulevards.
Later in the day we crossed over a street that had 10 lanes of traffic going in one direction.
After walking for a while we headed up into some more parks located near the museum of fine arts. As usual, there were statues and views aplenty.
This was our first, of many, sightings of a statue honoring Eva Peron. The other statue is of Bartolomo Mitre (President of Argentina 1862 – 1868). I found the figures on the back of the statue far more interesting than Señor Mitre on horseback.
Passing through this area, we made our way to la Recoleta Cemetery. Although perhaps an odd choice for a tourist destination, la Recoleta Cemetery is famed for its vaults and mausoleums. Containing over 4,500 vaults in total, it is a veritable city of the dead spanning a wide variety of styles. Also, given the available subject matter – love, loss, and death – the artistic possibilities are immense.
The vaults are in quite a range of conditions – from pristine clean marble to smashed glass covered in dirt and cobwebs.
In some, there is no trace of the dead, while in others the caskets are clearly on display or can be seen below ground.
Setup like a small city, narrow streets go off in different directions to all corners of the cemetery.
We could have easily spent our entire day going from vault to vault looking at the artistry on display.
Some of my personal favorites were those that seemed to stray from the norm of what everything else was or those that showed the passage of years clearly on them.
However, it was the small details that could be especially arresting – particularly if clad in cobwebs.
Leaving the cemetery, we headed over towards Plaza de Mayo. Along the way we passed by Teatro Colon.
As it was later in the day, they were done giving tours of the theatre, but we hope to come back later for a tour. Continuing towards the plaza, we went by an enormous obelisk in the center of a large boulevard.
Erected in 1936, it commemorates the quadracentennial of the city’s founding.
Finally arriving at the Plaza de Mayo, we entered the Catedral Metropolitano de Buenos Aires that sits on one corner of the plaza. Built and rebuilt over the centuries, the interior of the church is impressive and displays many chapels and stained glass windows.
Of special interest within the church is the tomb of General José de San Martín – El Libertador of Argentina, Chile, and Peru. Having played a central role in the Southern and Central campaigns for independence, he is regarded as a hero throughout many countries in South America.
The female figures that guard his tomb represent Argentina, Chile, and Peru.
After a while we made our way out of the church and back into the Plaza de Mayo.
Back in the plaza we looked around at many of the buildings and especially the Casa Rosada – the executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina.
While we were there we saw a group of guards go marching across the plaza.
Continuing on from the plaza, we headed towards the San Telmo neighborhood, passing numerous other churches along the way.
We finally made our way over to Puerto Madero. This area is a former seaport that has since been converted into businesses, restaurants, and shops. Although described as a tourist destination, it was mostly empty when we visited.
We wandered along the waterfront for a while and then headed back to our apartment for the night.
