We recently visited the Recoleta Cemetery – the final resting place to important and affluent people, including ex-Presidents, renowned doctors, and families of what we suspect were incredibly wealthy people.
The cemetery contains huge architectural tombs that are mostly characterised by large pillars, ceiling artwork (think the Sistine Chapel), statues of angels, and glass windows through which you can see at least one coffin (sometimes up to six, as families are generationally entombed together), alters filled with photos, candles, and flowers, and cascading staircases that spiral deep underground to some unknown, dark void.
Some coffins can be found down these staircases, which we only figured out by straining our eyes through the glass windows. Other coffins are on ground level, so whatever is resting down the stairs in their cases, who knows! Creepy! Each tomb has floor vents on the inside, and usually plaques on the outside, which tell you who(m) rests inside.
Here are some photos. As fascinating as the Recoleta Cemetery is, it is definitely creepy. In some cases, tombs have been broken into an vandalised, suggesting that at night time, the cemetery isn’t a particularly safe place to be….
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