AfterLife

As the only heir to her family’s fortune, María Josepha Patrona de Todos los Santos Sánchez de Velasco Trillo—Mariquita, for short—would have been a bride many sought after. But Mariquita, born in 1786, lived during the Spanish Viceroyalty & arranged marriages were commonplace among the upper class. Her fate was sealed. Unfortunately she had already fallen in love with her first cousin, Martín Thompson. To discourage the couple, Mariquita was confined inside the Santa Casa de los Ejercicios Espirituales for her own good:

It didn’t work… Martín used to enter secretly & visit Mariquita. Eventually they both pleaded with the Vicerroy to annul the arranged marriage, & the couple happily married in 1805. Five children later, Martín was sent on a diplomatic mission to the US & died soon after his return.

Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson did not remain single for long. She soon married the French embassador, Jean Baptiste Washington de Mendeville. Although the couple had three children, the marriage was not a happy one. With divorce illegal, their only recourse was separation. Mendeville left Buenos Aires & never returned.

During the government of Rosas, Mariquita Sánchez de Mendeville lived in exile in Montevideo. After the defeat of Rosas & returning to Buenos Aires, she worked tirelessly for the largest benefit organization in the city & even came to know President Sarmiento. Mariquita was always involved in politics. In fact, history credits her as being one of the first people to hear the Argentine national anthem written by Vicente López y Planes in 1813… performed at her home on Calle Florida. Mariquita passed away at the age of 82 in 1868.

Someone else is buried in Recoleta Cemetery with Mariquita. With strong connections to France thanks to her last husband, she was named godmother of Isabelle Colonna-Walewski, granddaughter of Napoleón Bonaparte. Born in Buenos Aires in 1847, Isabel only lived 50 days. Latin on the tombstone sums up Mariquita’s life in two words: Charity. Loved.

Her crypt was declared a National Historic Monument in 1946.

Close to the entrance gate, the Art Nouveau effigy of Luz María García Velloso draws a lot of attention. Beautiful & in a highly visible location, it only seems natural that an urban legend would develop around her death.

Supposedly a victim of leukemia at the age of 15, Luz María’s mom spent several  night vigils at the cemetery… actually sleeping inside the vault. Much later, men walking near Recoleta Cemetery reported an encounter with a young woman dressed completely in white. The most common version claims this woman would accompany them to a bar, get a chill then ask to borrow her date’s jacket. Next she would accidentally stain it with whatever they were drinking & take the jacket with her when they said goodnight.

The following day the man somehow contacts her mother to get the jacket back, & she explains that the young woman is already dead! In desperation, he goes to the cemetery & finds his jacket draped over the effigy. While none of the above has been confirmed, it makes for an interesting story… probably one of the most common urban legends in the world.

Fortunately some factual information about the rest of the family—also buried here—is available. Luz María’s father, Enrique García Velloso, was of Basque descent & heavily involved in the arts at the beginning of the 20th century in Buenos Aires. He directed the first movie version of Amália by José Marmol in 1914. Two years later he wrote Mamá Culepina about the barracks following the troops of Lucio V. Mansilla.

All this artistic activity led Enrique to be named the first President of the Casa del Teatro—an actors association/retirement organization based on Avenida Santa Fe. Still possessing a popular theater,  the fantastic Art Deco building was designed by Alejandro Virasoro… the same architect who built the Defferrari family vault.

Enrique’s cultural connections expressed their sorrow for the death of Luz María with poetic plaques on the left side of the family vault:

Unfortunately the elaborate interior painting is missing these days, but the ceiling’s stained glass remains intact:

Second to last photo courtesy of the Archivo General de la Nación.

Last photo can be viewed larger in Flickr.

Born in 1788, his lifetime coincided with Argentine independence & the troubled times of Rosas & Lavalle. Elected four times as governor of Corrientes Province, Ferré passed away in 1867. His tomb was declared a National Historic Monument in 1946 & has a unique Art Nouveau style:

María Teresa has laid in the Machinandiarena family vault since 1985, but her husband arrived a few years earlier. Producer, director & actor Armando Bó, one of the most interesting personalities of Argentine cinema due to his symbiotic union with—it’s impossible to speak about one without mentioning the other—the unrivaled Argentine erotic  diva, Isabel “Coca” Sarli.

Armando was already famous for producing & acting in “Pelota de trapo” (1948), a master work which can be compared to the best in the Italian Neorealism genre. But he discovered Isabel Sarli—Miss Argentina 1955—& created an  amazing 27 films where cheap melodrama & syrupy love ballads mix with fantastic landscapes & exotic tropical locales. It all served as a backdrop for the voluptuous body of Isabel, who in spite of her professed shyness filmed some of the most steamy scenes ever in Argentine cinema… often in the nude, bathing in every river or lagoon appearing the movie. Armando Bó & his son, Victor, were the men in her movies, making for a strange, incestuous love triangle. But despite his well-known affair, Armando never left his wife, María Teresa.

Who better to explain that strange relationship than John Waters? The video clip below contains his introduction to the movie “Fuego” (1969) as part of his television series “John Waters presents movies that will corrupt you.” Following the intro are selected scenes from movies containing the Bó-Sarli duo… ending with the phrase which has turned into Coca’s trademark: “¿Qué pretende de mí?” meaning “What do you want from me?” It’s pretty obvious.

Armando Bó had numerous problems with censorship in Argentina, & all of his movies were shown with entire sections cut. He passed away three years before the end of the last military dictatorship & its oppressive censorship. One important detail about the Machinandiarena family vault… it is not common to see a side door like this one, used to place caskets inside without having to navigate the narrow main door:

Something perhaps not all visitors realize is that Recoleta Cemetery is not a museum with permanent exhibits. Burials & ceremonies still occur & although there is something built on every square meter, it remains possible to find a burial spot there. According to real estate agents in the area, between 10-20% of the cemetery’s vaults are always for sale at any given time. In other words between 500-1,000 lots… quite a large number.

But Recoleta is not cheap… not the neighborhood nor its famous cemetery. An easy way to understand its relative cost is by looking at the rates charged by the city government for a burial niche. In Chacarita & Flores, the other large cementeries in Buenos Aires [also administered by the city], a first row niche costs 55 pesos per year & in Recoleta they charge 398 pesos… 720% more!

The same kind of price scheme applies to vaults. The majority are discreetly sold by real estate agencies in the area—obviously a “for sale” sign would never appear on a vault—but they can be purchased online through sites like Mercado Libre [the Argentine equivalent of eBay], & a greater price difference between cemeteries can be seen. A vault with 18 coffin beds costs US$ 16,000 in Chacarita & US$ 39,000 in Recoleta. The ads get your attention: “wrought-iron door, chapel with double altar, stained glass, marble staircase.” Luxurious. Although even that is not as expensive as it gets. There are vaults for sale which cost up to US$ 150,000.

Of course the largest & most famous vaults are priceless… & in those cases the family usually does everything possible to hold on to them. If anyone dreams about ending their days in Recoleta Cemetery, the only available option is to find a mid- to lower price range vault.

As Recoleta Cemetery slowly grew in status, its layout changed from grassy plots with simple tombstones to one of ornate mausoleums & vaults. Leftover from early days, a number of modest tombstones still dot the grounds… usually of Irish Catholic origin. Other tombstones were incorporated into the walls of family mausoleums. Most examples of this bizarre form of recycling are found in the section immediately to the left of the entrance gate, a few rows over from General Alvear: