Documenting Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires since 2007
Category: Art + Architecture
Close to the entrance gate, the Art Nouveau effigy of Luz María García Velloso draws a lot of attention. Beautiful & in a highly visible location, it only seems natural that an urban legend would develop around her death.
Supposedly a victim of leukemia at the age of 15, Luz María’s mom spent several night vigils at the cemetery… actually sleeping inside the vault. Much later, men walking near Recoleta Cemetery reported an encounter with a young woman dressed completely in white. The most common version claims this woman would accompany them to a bar, get a chill then ask to borrow her date’s jacket. Next she would accidentally stain it with whatever they were drinking & take the jacket with her when they said goodnight.
The following day the man somehow contacts her mother to get the jacket back, & she explains that the young woman is already dead! In desperation, he goes to the cemetery & finds his jacket draped over the effigy. While none of the above has been confirmed, it makes for an interesting story… probably one of the most common urban legends in the world.
Fortunately some factual information about the rest of the family —also buried here— is available. Luz María’s father, Enrique García Velloso, was of Basque descent & heavily involved in the arts at the beginning of the 20th century in Buenos Aires. He directed the first movie version of Amália by José Marmol in 1914. Two years later he wrote Mamá Culepina about the barracks following the troops of Lucio V. Mansilla.
All this artistic activity led Enrique to be named the first President of the Casa del Teatro—an actors association/retirement organization based on Avenida Santa Fe. Still possessing a popular theater, the fantastic Art Deco building was designed by Alejandro Virasoro… the same architect who built the Defferrari family vault.
Enrique’s cultural connections expressed their sorrow for the death of Luz María with poetic plaques on the left side of the family vault:
Unfortunately the elaborate interior painting is missing these days, but the ceiling’s stained glass remains intact:
Second to last photo courtesy of the Archivo General de la Nación. Like Art Nouveau? Learn about the architects of the era, their individual styles & what makes Art Nouveau in Buenos Aires so unique with a 33-page guide from our sister site, Endless Mile.
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As Recoleta Cemetery slowly grew in status, its layout changed from grassy plots with simple tombstones to one of ornate mausoleums & vaults. Leftover from early days, a number of modest tombstones still dot the grounds… usually of Irish Catholic origin. Other tombstones were incorporated into the walls of family mausoleums. Most examples of this bizarre form of recycling are found in the section immediately to the left of the entrance gate, a few rows over from General Alvear:
Like so many other occupants of Recoleta Cemetery, the López Lecube family owned large tracts of land in Argentina —theirs happened to be in the Province of Buenos Aires near the town of Puan. The remarkable thing about this tomb is its sculptures by Dolores “Lola” Mora… the only ones she ever did for a cemetery.
Dolores Mora, born in the province of Tucumán in 1866, received a grant from Congress to continue her art studies in Rome. By 1898 her most famous professor was Giulio Monteverde who did the crucifixion statue in the cemetery’s chapel:
Lola Mora returned to Buenos Aires with her first public commission in 1903—a fantastic fountain depicting the birth of Venus titled “Las Nereidas.” Unfortunately the fountain was installed in a poor location for such a monumental work & was moved to Costanera Sur six years later. Some say that the naked figures on the fountain caused a scandal, but it was more likely a personal attack on Mora who had fallen out of official favor. She supervised the move, & the fountain continues to impress over 100 years later:
Moving the fountain was only the first of a series of public snubs Lola Mora suffered. The government refused to pay her for commissions, statues already in place on the steps of Congress were moved to faraway province, she was forced to sell her studio in Rome to pay debtors & project after project was denied her. Times & styles had changed, plus the affiliation with President Roca did her little good in later years. Lola Mora died in 1936 with no fortune or fame.
The statues for the López Lecube vault were commissioned in 1912 already after her luck began to turn. At least they are a significant addition to the artistic heritage of the cemetery. Signed by Mora during her brief marriage to Luis Hernández Otero, she was 15 years older than him & later discovered he was cheating on her. Obviously it didn’t last. The statues have been recently cleaned, making the signature almost invisible. Sometimes a bit of grit adds character:
Update (24 Oct 2011): During a recent visit to San Miguel de Tucumán, I was able to visit the crypt of Lola Mora in the Cementerio del Oeste:
For more info about the fascinating life of Lola Mora, watch this episode of bio.ar produced by the government-sponsored Encuentro channel (in Spanish).
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Although neglected today, the Familia del Valle tomb is the final resting place of one of Argentina’s most important sculptors 100 years ago, Victor de Pol. He’s here because in 1910 de Pol married Asimilda del Valle… great-niece of politician Aristóbulo del Valle.
Born in Venice in 1865, Victor de Pol emigrated to Argentina in 1887 at the age of 22. Having already studied art in his home town, Florence & Rome, de Pol won several awards & was recommended personally by his last teacher, Giulio Monteverde… responsible for the crucifixion statue in the cemetery chapel & professor to Dolores “Lola” Mora.
The city of La Plata —newly founded capital of the Provincia de Buenos Aires— hired de Pol to add a little beauty to Pedro Benoit‘s elegant urban design. De Pol is responsible for figures on the Palacio Legislativo, a few reliefs, sculptures of the indigenous people held captive in the Natural History museum (!), busts of 12 important scientists & the saber-toothed tigers guarding the museum entrance:
While President Sarmiento was still alive, de Pol had been invited to sculpt a bust —his official image of sorts. So when Sarmiento died in 1888, de Pol was also commissioned to design his tomb in Recoleta Cemetery, topped with a condor:
De Pol returned to Buenos Aires after a five-year stay in Europe & opened a studio in what is now known as Galerías Pacífico. From there he designed works to be placed over the entire nation as well as the fantastic tomb of Archbishop León Federico Aneiros, kneeling in prayer in the Catedral Metropolitana:
Victor de Pol’s most important work is admired by thousands of people daily, the quadriga placed top & center on the National Congress. Traditionally used by Roman generals when entering a conquered city, the horse-drawn carriage takes on new meaning as Liberty holds the reins. It’s a symbol found everywhere from the Arc de Triomphe to Brandenburg Gate… of course, Buenos Aires needed its own:
Museo de La Plata photos courtesy of Marcelo Metayer.
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