Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Señorita Rufina Cambaceres
The unlucky lady is said to have been mis-
takenly buried while in the midst of a cata-
leptic fit. After the burial she succeeded in
escaping her casket with terrific effort, only
to die at the gates of the cemetery of a heart
attack. Rufina was 15 years old when she
died in 1909. There may actually be a fac-
tual basis to this awful tale. The enemies of
her politician father were accused of mas-
terminding the plot and the cataleptic at-
tack that led to her demise.
Dr. Pedro Arata's tomb is certainly one of the
most unusual. It is a replica of an Egyptian pyr-
amid and remains incomplete to this day. There
are several graves with Egyptian motifs in
Recoleta, recalling the obsessive fascination
with the afterlife. Dr. Federico Leloir's grave is
the most expensive one. There is space within
for 60 coffins and the interior of the dome is cov-
ered with pure gold tiles.
Isabel Walenska was rumored to be the grand-
daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte, although her
grave is entered in the Recoleta registry, there
is no mark on her burial place. Many bodies, in
fact, are listed in the registry but do not appear
anywhere in the cemetery, largely due to the
remodelling that has gone on over the years.
These persons lie anonymously in forgotten
vaults. Remedios Escaleda de San Martín, wife
of the Liberator, lies in a small and simple
