Some years ago I went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to atend a workshop and of course, in the free time I had during the month I was there studying, I took the opportunity to visit many places in the city, one of them was Recoleta Cemetery.
Before that visit I had never gone to a cemetery as a cultural walk, I knew that in many countries there is this type of tourism but in my country, Venezuela, one of the oldest, the General Cemetery of the South located in Caracas, is very deteriorated and because it is insecure, it has not yet been used seriously in that way even though it has many artistic works worth seeing.
Inaugurated in 1822, La Recoleta cemetery located in the neighborhood of the same name, was the first public cemetery in Buenos Aires and many important Argentine figures rest there.
I went on this tour with some of my colleagues from the workshop, who were also interested in taking some photographs there.
This cemetery was declared a National Historical Museum in 1946 due to the important architectural and artistic works it houses.
It has a neoclassical style entrance and once inside you feel like in a city, of the dead but a city at last because it has marked and paved streets.
Perhaps it would have been better to take a guided tour, but we didn't, each one of us simply began to freely tour it and stop to look and photograph where we wanted.
So I invite you to take a look at a few images of this eternal resting place with impressive mausoleums, vaults and artistic details throughout.
This opulence that is observed here is due to the fact that the richest families in the city when moving to this area to get away from more populated areas where they lived due to the yellow fever epidemic, bought plots in the cemetery to bury their dead and even competed for who would build the most beautiful and impressive mausoleum.
I toured various parts where there were no people and the feeling I had in some places was claustrophobic even though I was outdoors.
Although in general the cemetery was in good condition there was also the occasional abandoned tomb where the half-open coffin was seen, but I preferred not to photograph it, instead I found some cute cats, more photogenic than that hehehe.
Like any cemetery, this one is also full of stories that attract attention and some are also represented with statues.
This is the case of Liliana Crociati, a young woman who died during her honeymoon and in her mausoleum that reproduces what her room was like, she appears outside represented in a statue with her wedding dress, with which she was buried and her beloved dog next to her.
Nature is also integrated into this cemetery, in many parts there are small gardens and varied vegetation.
At first I felt a bit strange walking through a cemetery and I wondered why human beings build these temples to remember or honor their dead, but then I even forgot where I was with all the things that distracted me when photographing, so if you have the opportunity, go to a cemetery of this type, you will not only be able to take good photos, but also various reflections on life.
Photos taken by me with a Sony Cyber Shot 7.2 mp digital camera