Photo taken by Samuel Boote, circa 1885, & part of the Colección Carlos Sánchez Idiart. The entrance gate had just been remodeled by Juan Antonio Buschiazzo four years earlier, so it looks practically new in this photograph. Grottos were all the rage in late 19th century Buenos Aires, so naturally Recoleta had a few for rest & relaxation. A gem of a photo.
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Born in 1893 in Buenos Aires, Juan Pedro Garrahan was second-generation Argentine born of Irish immigrants. His grandparents were from Westmeath County & arrived long before European immigration began in earnest in the 1880s.
Juan entered the Facultad de Medicina in 1908 & graduated with honors in 1915 at the age of 22. Immediately he began working in pediatrics & formed part of the Hospital Rivadavia & Hospital de Clínicas. In 1924, he married María Rosa Prando which explains his placement in their family tomb in Recoleta Cemetery.
One website notes that Garrahan strived to improve diagnostic procedures in order to minimize intrusion. As Chair of Pediatrics in 1945, he resigned from the post during the Perón era & resumed the post after the 1955 Revolución Libertadora. After numerous publications & forming part of pediatric societies in Brazil, Spain, France & Chile, Garrahan passed away in April 1965. In 1979, the national pediatrics hospital located in Parque Patricios was named after him:
Born in Salta in 1850, Virgilio Mariano Tedín Tejada joined the local elite by marrying Flor de María Uriburu Arenales—sister of future President José Evaristo de Uriburu… who in turn was uncle to Argentina’s first military dictator, José Félix Uriburu. It’s all in the family.
Seemingly at odds with future cousins, Tedín earned respect as a fair national judge during the complicated 1890’s. After the failed revolution, he did his best to ensure fair treatment of Leandro N. Alem & other activists. Tedín died at the age of 42, & this tomb was paid for by public donations… remarkable for a federal judge:
Sculpted in 1899 by Miguel Sansebastiano—also the author of Toribio de Ayerza‘s tomb—a seated female figure representing Justice (find the fallen scales) crowns an angel. Today, the wrought-iron crown (perhaps of laurel?) is missing along with her thumb, but a fuzzy version can be seen in the 1900 photo by Harry Grant Olds. The angel’s book contains three unreadable words, worn over time… looks like “??? y senteacea” but that’s merely a guess. Left & right inscriptions read respectively:
Mantuvo incólume la potestad de la ley en que reposa el verdadero bienestar de la patria / Dio a cada uno lo suyo, vivió honestamente y a nadie dañó.
He upheld authority of the law in which lies the true wellbeing of the nation / He gave himself to each individual, lived honestly & harmed no one.
