A question asked several times throughout the past 50 years 🙂 With no signage to mark the way, visitors only have a few options to find the tomb of Eva Perón: use our PDF guidebook (yes, shameless self-promotion), buy a map from the women at the entrance gate, ask one of the caretakers… or take notes from this video:
Oddly enough, the Duarte family vault was once marked but at least not in last nine years. This abandoned sign was previously found by the women’s restroom:
How a city chooses to promote tourism often reflects its own self-image. After the 2001 economic crisis & following devaluation, Buenos Aires became a very popular destination: exotic & affordable. Naturally, the city government jumped on the tourism bandwagon & developed an extensive website to provide information about Buenos Aires to visitors. In our opinion, they did a spectacular job in a short period of time.
The website included a series of audiotours available for download, one in particular focusing on the neighborhood of Recoleta. Although basic, it introduces visitors to the general layout of the area. As for the cemetery, no separate audiotour was available… but three minutes (of that 72-minute recording) are dedicated to the most popular attraction in Buenos Aires. Text on the webpage describes the site:
Historia y arte se sintetizan en los pasillos del cementerio de la Recoleta, una de las necrópolis más destacadas del mundo. Entre las figuras más relevantes que se encuentran sepultadas aquí están Eva Perón, Adolfo Bioy Casares y Facundo Quiroga. Escuchá al escritor López Mato repasando las leyendas que hay alrededor del cementerio.
History & art are summed up in the passageways of Recoleta Cemetery, one of the most notable necropoles in the world. Among the most relevant figures buried here are Eva Perón, Adolfo Bioy Casares, & Facundo Quiroga. Listen to author López Mato recount stories about the cemetery.
Spanish speakers can listen to the three-minute segment below. Strangely, the text above lists Bioy Casares & Quiroga as noteworthy, but they are not mentioned in the audio… a minor oversight but Sarmiento would be better to highlight than Quiroga:
For non-Spanish speakers: According to the audioguide, the most important people in Argentine history are buried in Recoleta Cemetery. No doubt. Its architecture is important & over 70 tombs have been declared National Historic Monuments. Good so far.Omar López Mato discusses the meaning behind the dates inscribed on the floor of the main entrance. Not so important but fine to mention. Eva Perón is here, important for her social work & fight for women’s right to vote. Then López Mato tells the urban legend surrounding Rufina Cambacérès. What’s a cemetery without a few urban legends?
However… No mention is made about restoration works in progress. There is no discussion about the origins of the cemetery. And probably the worst omission is that no effort is made to convey a sense of all the historical sagas contained within its walls.
Like no other cemetery in the world, Recoleta wraps up almost 200 years of national drama… Rosas, Lavalle & Dorrego all wound up in the same place. Juárez Celman, Roca, Pellegrini, Alem, & Campos are all neighbors (well, JC has since been moved). Aramburu, Lonardi, & Evita rest in peace together. I doubt they ever thought they would all end up in the same spot. Anyone who knows minimal Argentine history cannot ignore the irony of that.
A visit to Recoleta Cemetery should remind visitors that the same fate awaits us all —friends & enemies alike— & turn that observation into a lesson about Argentine history. It’s a twist that few tour guides or authors emphasize & doing so would present a more complete image of the city & the nation.
Premiering in 2001, “The Amazing Race” pits 11 teams of two people on an around the world trip to see who can complete challenges & finish the course first for one million dollars. Currently on its 15th season, naturally they’ve filmed in Buenos Aires a few times. Season 5, Episode 2 —airing in 2004— had teams travel by ferry from Uruguay to Buenos Aires & make their way to the tomb of Eva Perón. Of course. The teams make it, sooner or later, to their next clue inside Recoleta Cemetery:
This video unfortunately was blocked on YouTube due to copyright claims… perhaps in the future we will be able to post it again.
A few comments: Obviously the cemetery was closed during filming as there are no other tourists around. Driving the teams to the tomb in a vehicle normally used to transport caskets is a bit creepy & useless… Recoleta Cemetery is only four blocks big. Asking caretakers where her tomb is located would have been more realistic, & it’s only a 2-minute walk or 30-second run from the entrance. Better yet, they could have directed teams to the crypt of Aramburu first, then on to Eva with a history lesson along the way… but maybe that’s too much to ask.
