There are many poignant stories in my book Great Burial Places, but two that come to mind are about two women buried in La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentine.

The tomb of Liliana Crociati de Szaszak is of special interest due to its unusual design. The daughter of an Italian painter and poet, Liliana was enjoying her honeymoon in the Austrian Alps in 1970 when an avalanche struck the hotel in which she and her husband were staying. The 26-year-old was killed, allegedly at that same instant that her beloved dog Sabú died, thousands of kilometers away in Argentina. Designed by her mother and modelled on the room Liliana lived in as a young girl, her tomb is made entirely of wood and glass and features narrow gothic style windows. A plaque displays a poem in Italian, written by her father. A bronze statue of Liliana, tinted bluish-green, stands outside the tomb. She is depicted wearing the wedding dress in which she was buried, her right hand resting on Sabú’s head.

Perhaps the saddest story is that of that of Rufina Cambaceres, a young woman who was buried alive in 1902. She had probably fallen into a coma and a few days after her interment workers heard screams from the tomb but before they could reach her she had died of a heart attack. When the tomb was opened it revealed scratches on her face and on the coffin from her attempts to escape. Her mother then built an art nouveau masterpiece, which has become a symbol of La Recoleta. Her coffin is of Carrara marble, carved with a rose on top and it sits behind a glass wall. A statue of a young girl at the door of the tomb, also in marble, turns her head to those watching her. She looks as if she is about to break into tears as her right hand rests on the door of her own tomb.