Mirta Roncagalli
A few cemeteries in Buenos Aires are true open-air museums. Spaces rich in history and stories tucked between the nooks and crannies of statues, tombs and mausoleums. La Chacarita is one of the most important and impressive cemeteries in the city of Buenos Aires. It not only contains the tombs of relevant figures from the country’s history, but also the pantheons of various immigrant cultural associations that have shaped the Argentine capital over time. Among these, at least nine belong to Italian associations (in the appendix of this article the reader can find the complete list, along with additional photos).
As Celeste Caglione writes, associations and societies commissioned mausoleums, and this reflects a significant investment of time and money. Mutual aid societies, among other activities, covered the funeral expenses of their members. The pantheons are an important part of community memory, a message for posterity, as well as a “home” in which people across generations could come together and build a bridge between the present, past and future.
Such connections could also be seen in architecture and the decoration of the themselves. The neoclassical style of the Italian mausoleums [1] creates a certain harmony amongst the different organizations that built community places of rest. The predominance of the color white, the clean and orderly geometric forms (resembling a Greek temple), classical elements such as columns and Catholic symbols are all unifying themes in these Italian spaces.
Pantheon of the Lodge Liberi Pensatori (Free Thinkers).
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
Pantheon of the Italian Philharmonic Union “Massa Lubrense”
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
Another salient feature of these Italian mausoleums are the “patios” that extend in front and/or behind the entrance to the pantheons themselves.
Pantheon of the Italian Mutual Aid Society of Belgrano
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
Pantheon of the Ligurian Mutual Aid Society
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
The majestic style of these mausoleums along with the materials used in their construction that came from Italy, such as Carrara marble, created a set of values and symbols identifiable to Italians in Buenos Aires. In short, cemetery art, of product of community organization and mobilization, has, over decades, affirmed a sense of identity and belonging to a community of shared origin.
Bibliography
Castiglione, Celeste. “Morir lejos de casa. Marcas identitarias de la migración masiva en Argentina.” Andes (Salta, Argentina), vol. 30, núm. 1, 2019, pp. 147-176.
Appendix
Pantheons of Italian associations found in the Chacarita cemetery [2]:
(1): Pantheon of the Sociedad Salesiana;
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
(2): Pantheon of the Sociedad José Verdi;
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
(3): Pantheon of the Sociedad Lígure de Socorros Mutuos;
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
(4): Pantheon of the Asociación de Socorros Mutuos y Musical “Unión de la Boca”;
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
(5): Pantheon of the Sociedad de Socorros Mutuos San Crispín (A);
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
(6): Pantheon of the Sociedad de Socorros Mutuos San Crispín (B) [3];
(7): Pantheon of the Sociedad Italiana de Socorros Mutuos de Belgrano
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
(8): Pantheon of the Logia “Liberi Pensatori”;
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
(9): Pantheon of the Asociación Filarmónica Italiana Unión Massa Lubrense.
Source: Photograph by Mirta Roncagalli.
[1]: The only exception is the Pantheon of the Salesian Society, a work by Ernesto Vespignani, who, in architecture, colors, and decorations, replicated the Basilica of San Carlos in Buenos Aires (a basilica that, let us remember, maintains close connections with Italy thanks to the Lombardesque neo-Romanesque style in which it was built).
[2]: I would like to express my gratitude to María Elena Tuma, head of the Cemetery Documentation Center in the Chacarita Cemetery Historical and Cultural Heritage Area, for her valuable help during my research.
[3]: During my visit, this pantheon was not accesible by the public.