Documenting Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires since 2007
Category: Art + Architecture
Anyone who has walked around Plaza San Martín in Buenos Aires should recognize this last name. Corina Kavanagh sold two family ranches when she was 39 years old to build Latin America’s first skyscraper. Completed in 1936, the Edificio Kavanagh represents a bold end to Art Deco & a new beginning for racionalismo, or Modernism as it is known in the US. 29 floors of reinforced concrete sit alongside the plaza & give the impression of a steamship inching through the urban landscape. Corina set aside the entire 14th floor for herself—the only floor with a single apartment—but for some unknown reason lived elsewhere in the building:
What inspired Corina to fund the construction? A legend exists that Corina fell in love with a son of the Anchorena family whose palatial residence also borders Plaza San Martín. But mom didn’t approve & made sure that her son broke it off with Corina.
Wanting revenge, Corina bought land in front of the Basílica del Santísimo Sacramento (meant to be the family mausoleum for the Anchorenas) & had the Kavanagh built so tall that the family wouldn’t be able to look out their windows to see the church. Sounds good but a little too good to be true. Since the Anchorena mom died in 1920 & the Kavanagh was built in 1936, the story is most likely someone’s invention. Corina passed away in 1984.
Update (Nov 2011): Through some unexpected connections, we were able to get a look at the gorgeous interior of this iconic BA beauty. See inside the kavanagh on our sister site, Endless Mile.
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At the end of the 1700s & the beginning of the 1800s, the world was so chaotic that many people looked for either stability or a new style to mark the new era. The Americas were claiming independence, Europe was ravaged by Napoleon, & no one knew what would happen next. The standard answer was to look to the past for comfort. Neogothic & Neoclassical styles sought to recall more orderly times. Another answer was to mix old with new… romantic & exotic ideas were combined with nature images & the pintoresco style was born.
Early burials in Recoleta Cemetery happened at the same time, so a few vaults were built in the pintoresco style. The certainly stand out. For example, the above photo is of the Burgueño vault dated 1879. One of the best is the Arcave y Oyarvide vault below. Cement is sculpted like rocks, the cross is made to look like roots from a dead tree, & the base of the vault even includes barrel planters:
Gregorio Torres went one step further & built his tomb to mimic a grotto… both inside & out. An interesting aside is that the more these tombs sit without regular care, the more plant life sprouts in the warm & humid climate of Buenos Aires. What might be considered damage in other tombs can actually be considered a step toward the style’s ideal:
Sure, it’s Photoshopped… but it looks great. Don’t forget to play with your cemetery photos once you’re back home.
Leave a CommentAlthough the altar blocks a portion of the stained glass, this scene of Christ descending from the cross is exquisite:
And fortunately I could fit my zoom lens through the door. The glass panel is signed by Talleres Francisco Mary from 1896. They were one of the most sought-after stained glass workshops to decorate family vaults. An alternate spelling which sometimes appears is “Mari”… definitely worthy of a scavenger hunt:
