Monday, January 23, 2012<\/h2>\n

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The Order of the Recoletos built a convent and church here on the edge of Buenos Aires in 1732. \u00a0Apparently they didn’t make much headway with the heathens, and wandered off less than a hundred years later. \u00a0After they left, the garden next to the convent was converted into the first public cemetery in BA and inaugurated by the Governor of the area, Martin Rodriguez. \u00a0Unfortunately for the Governor, he soon became one of the first of many state and national officials to be buried there. \u00a0Since then, according to Wikipedia, 4691 stone and marble tombs have been built on its 14 acres, 94 of which have been declared Argentine National Monuments.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0La Recoleta Cemetery<\/h3>\n

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Quietly strolling through the forest of monuments, domes, and statuary fostered a sense of wonder within me. \u00a0Many of the tombs and mausoleums contained the bones of military heros, governors, the wealthy barons of Argentina, and Argentine Presidents and their families. \u00a0I couldn’t help but wonder though, who were these other people? \u00a0What were their lives like?<\/div>\n

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\u00a0Family Crypt<\/h3>\n

The family that lays together, stays together.<\/p>\n

This is typical of many of the tombs. Glass doors and fronts.<\/p>\n

Ladders to descend into family histories. \u00a0<\/em><\/h3>\n

Layers of family caskets for all to pay respects to. \u00a0<\/em><\/h3>\n

Leftovers from lives and family relics adorn the shelves. \u00a0<\/em><\/h3>\n

Lives. \u00a0Gone, but not forgotten.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Longing from loved ones who remain.<\/em><\/h3>\n

To me, one of the most personally touching of all the monuments<\/div>\n

was that of Liliana Crociati de Szascak. \u00a0The 26 year old bride was<\/div>\n

honeymooning in Innsbruck, Austria when she was killed by an<\/div>\n

avalanche. \u00a0Heartbroken, her mother designed her tomb…<\/div>\n

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Liliana Crociati de Szascak<\/h3>\n

\u00a0Her father wrote the poem beneath the life-size bronze statue of Liliana in her wedding dress:<\/p>\n

To my Daughter<\/h3>\n

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Only I ask myself why<\/h3>\n

You left and left my heart destroyed<\/h3>\n

That wanted only you, why?<\/h3>\n

Why? Only destiny knows the reason, and I ask myself why?<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

Because we can’t be without you, why?<\/h3>\n

You were so beautiful that invidious nature destroyed you. Why?<\/h3>\n

I only ask myself why, if God exists, does he take away that which is His name.<\/h3>\n

Because He destroys us and leaves us to an eternity of sadness!<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

Why? I believe in fate and not in you. Why?<\/h3>\n

Because I only know that I always dream with you, why is that?<\/h3>\n

For all the love my heart feels for you.<\/h3>\n

Why? \u00a0Why?<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

Your Papa<\/h3>\n

After her dog, Sabu, died, the original sculptor added a bronze of the dog, with Liliani’s hand resting on its head.<\/p>\n

As I thought of my daughter, Val, my throat tightened, and a tear fell.<\/p>\n

But I had come to see the tomb of the woman who pissed of Argentina’s elite by being buried in “their” public cemetery… While little Eva was reviled by the elite of society, she was the heroine of the working masses. \u00a0Born, the illegitimate child of a rancher, then \u00a0abandoned with her mom and siblings, she rose from the dregs of humanity to become the first pro-labor First Lady of Argentina. \u00a0With 4000 tombs, how would I ever find it?<\/p>\n

I followed the crowd…<\/p>\n

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Turns out, I felt much much more looking at Liliana’s final resting place.<\/p>\n

Next… Heading for Fin del Mundo!<\/h3>\n

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Monday, January 23, 2012 The Order of the Recoletos built a convent and church here on the edge of Buenos Aires in 1732. \u00a0Apparently they didn’t make much headway with the heathens, and wandered off less than a hundred years later. \u00a0After they left, the garden next to the convent was converted into the first … <\/p>\n

Read more “BUENOS AIRES AND La RECOLETA CEMETERY”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,8,9],"tags":[98,97,100,99],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/timdurhamphotography.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6818"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/timdurhamphotography.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/timdurhamphotography.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/timdurhamphotography.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/timdurhamphotography.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6818"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/timdurhamphotography.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6897,"href":"http:\/\/timdurhamphotography.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6818\/revisions\/6897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/timdurhamphotography.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/timdurhamphotography.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/timdurhamphotography.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/timdurhamphotography.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}