12/5: Buenos Aires: Recoleta City of Dead, Old World Masters & Teatro Colon

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As we walked through Recoleta, a northern area of Buenos Aires, we came across several dog walkers, an indication if there ever was one, that the area was ritzier than where we'd already been.

Also unusual, and unwelcome in my opinion, was the proliferation of English-language signs in the stores

We had come to visit the famous Recoleta Cemetery but stopped first at the stunning Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar. The white colonial church was built by the Jesuits in 1716.

The centerpiece of the church was a Peruvian altar adorned with silver from Argentina's northwest.

The church's blue tiled walls were so beautiful.

A small museum, Museo de los Claustros del Pilar, located in the former convent, displayed religious artifacts.

14th century Virgin with Child:

The Jacaranda wood door had a hole on the bottom left corner to allow cats to pass through!

Behind the church in what had been once an orchard was the Recoleta Cemetery where we had planned our entire stay in the city around the day's 11 am guided tour. Naturally, we were therefore disappointed to learn the tour had been cancelled as the Recoleta is often voted as one of the most fascinating cemeteries in the world.

We had read that almost every major Argentine hero and villain was buried in Buenos Aires' most exclusive burial ground so we were curious to view their final resting places. With more than 4,000 ornate mausoleums, the Recoleta Cemetery is also the biggest outdoor collection of artwork in the world.

Juan Facundo Quiroga, a leader who was assassinated during the 1830s bloody war, was reportedly buried standing up as a sign of courage!

I remember being so moved reading the love and devotion expressed by a new widow to her husband.

Irish freedom fighter and naval hero William Brown was buried beside a green mast. His daughter, Eliza, was nearby after she was found drowned in her wedding dress. Legend had it she killed herself out of grief for her Scottish lover who died helping her father.

In this amazing city of the dead, countless 'streets' were lined with impressive statues and marble mausoleums.

The map we bought indicated this family crypt belonged to tyrant Juan Manuel de Rosas.

This mausoleum was being cleaned so we were able to get a better look of its interior.

The large park by our hotel and in front of the Teatro Colon was named for Juan Lavalle, a politician. This was his final resting place.

This remarkable monument mourned the Heroes of the Revolution of 1890.

If you click on the photo below to enlarge it, you'll see the English inscription for the Duggan Family Vault dated 1887.

Outside the granite tomb was a statue of heavyweight boxer Luis Angel Firpo who nearly beat Jack Dempsey in 1923.

Like everyone else who visited the Cementerio de la Recoleta, we wanted to see its biggest star. We were surprised that Evita Perón's final home was in one of the simpler mausoleums in a narrow alley in the cemetery. Her grave was one of the few that had any flowers. Although Evita died in 1952, her body wasn’t interred for 20 years. Her body lay in a heavily fortified crypt some five meters’ underground, to protect her remains.

One of the saddest stories I read about while visiting the cemetery was of Rufina Cambaceres, a rich child buried alive after a cataleptic attack. When she woke up, she managed to pry open the coffin open but died during the night of a heart attack! She was buried in an art nouveau tomb decorated with wrought iron.

One of the cemetery's most grandiose tombs belonged to Domingo Sarmiento, the country's famous 19th century educator. In thirty years, he founded 5,000 schools in the country but he was forced to hire teachers from the US as there weren't enough in Argentina.

Recoleta was an eerily beautiful and tranquil place. It came as no surprise that over 90 of its tombs were listed as national historical monuments.

Later we made our way to one of Buenos Aires' unique monuments known as Floralis Genérica, which was on permanent display in the Plaza de las Naciones Unidas or UN Plaza. The huge stainless steel flower was designed by Argentine architect Eduardo Catalano who donated it to the city in 2002. Catalano once said that the flower "is a synthesis of all the flowers and, at the same time, a hope reborn every day at opening."

The aluminum and stainless steel 'generic flower' statue was surrounded by a terrific park. The flower was supposed to open and close with the day but sadly, the mechanisms which apparently make it open and shut to mirror a real flower, weren't working. However, the day we were there it was stuck about 3/4 closed which I think might have been the perfect position for reflecting the sky, buildings and tourists who came to view it. It reminded me of Cloud Gate, aka The Bean sculpture in Chicago.

In the same Recoleta neighborhood was the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, the country's most important fine arts museum and the largest public art collection in Latin America. Its 12,000-plus pieces included the world's largest collection of Argentine art, as well as one of the region's most important collections of 19th-century European art.

We were drawn to the museum's impressive international works by European masters such as Degas, Picasso, Cezanne and others.

Each painting was a feast for our eyes and a delight for all our senses!

After delighting in the familiar European masterpieces, another treat was in store: a remarkable exhibition of Spanish painter Joan Miró's works called The Experience of Looking.

Never had we been exposed to so many of his works before. I suspect and hope we will see many more when we visit Miró's hometown of Barcelona in late October.

The museum also had a superb collection of Rodin's sculptures.

Beginning in 1880, Rodin created over 200 figures inspired by The Divine Comedy for the Gates of Hell. The Kiss originally formed part of that project as it dealt with forbidden love. Rodin in 1886 transformed the characters for other, more dramatic ones in keeping with the work.

Rodin's cast of the French writer, Honore de Balzac:

I discovered that Rodin only had one solo show during his lifetime.

Exquisite and mammoth 16th century Flemish tapestries:

Two paintings by the Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani:

Paintings by Argentine artist Fernard Leger:

We hated to leave at 3:30 but we had a reservation at 4 for a tour of the Teatro Colon we'd only seen from the outside on the first day.

The gorgeous seven-story building which had opened in 1908 was a world class site for opera, ballet and classical music.

Our guide pointed out the sienna, pink and carrerra varieties of marble in the Grand Staircase.

I pitied the poor artisans tasked with laying each minute piece of tile one by one like a puzzle! It took them two years to accomplish the task.

Some of the operas lasted for five hours so patrons could access a coffee shop on each level, according to our guide.

While walking in The Gallery of Busts, our guide proudly proclaimed that Maria Callas performed three operas here before showcasing her talents at La Scala in Milan and The Met in NY.

Though Teatro Colon didn't have a resident orchestra initially, now their season goes from March through December and includes 9 operas, 5 ballets and 20 symphonies. The Teatro is only one of three in the world that makes all the costumes used on site.

The Golden Hall was set up for more intimate occasions.

Each of the chandeliers weighed 500 kilos and had 22 lights!

Unfortunately, we barely glimpsed the auditorium itself as a rehearsal was taking place. The guide said Pavarotti had declared Teatro Colon had the best acoustics but that meant any mistakes would of course be amplified! Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Joan Sutherland, Nureyev, Baryshnikov, Fontaine, Nijinsky: All the great operatic singers and ballet dancers have performed at the majestic Teatro Colon!