I suppose with the popularity of the 1996 movie Evita, Evita Perón just might be the most famous Argentinian to the American mind.

While traveling with our Kensington Tours private guide in Buenos Aires, we made a stop at the famous La Recoleta Cemetery.  This cemetery is truly a site to behold, is listed among the 10 most beautiful cemeteries in the world, and contains the graves of many notable people.

I’ll tell you more about this beautiful cemetery in another post, but for now, I thought you might enjoy a glimpse of Evita Perón’s tomb.  As I was snapping photographs of the tomb, scores of people came by to visit and snap their own photographic mementos of this hallowed place for many of the Argentinian people.

Evita Perón died of cancer in 1952 and was the celebrated second wife of President Juan Perón.  After her death, a monument was being built to display her body.  But, Juan Perón was overthrown by a military coup and Evita’s body evidently mysteriously disappeared for 16 years.  In 1971 the military revealed that Evita’s body had been buried in a crypt in Milan, Italy under a fictitious name.

In 1974, Juan Perón, now back in power, died and his third wife became the president of Argentina and had Evita’s body returned to Argentina where it was later put to rest in the La Recoleta Cemetery.

Juan Pablo, our Kensington tours private guide, spent about 10 minutes with us near the tomb of Evita and explained the modern Argentinians love/hate relationship with Evita.  It seems that with all of the political turmoil that has visited Argentina over the years, Argentinians either love Evita, or wish that she might be erased from the national memory.

Nonetheless, Evita reigns high in the world’s memories of Argentina, and we’re pleased that we got to visit this site to make our understandings richer and more alive.

If you find yourself in Buenos Aires, the La Recoleta Cemetery is an absolute “must see”, and while you’re there, stop by and visit Evita’s tomb.

Note: our visit to the La Recoleta Cemetery was provided by the kind folks at Kensington Tours.

Link: Kensington Tours

If you’d like more information about your own private guided tour with Kensington Tours, click the link above, or give Carol and I a call at (480) 550-1235.  We’d be happy to help you arrange a Kensington Tours private guided tour, and it would be big fun to have you as one of our clients.
 
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