José Clemente Paz (1842-1912) was an Argentine statesman, diplomat and journalist and founded the newspaper "La Prensa." As an 18 year old, Paz enlisted in the Buenos Aires forces under the command of Bartolomé Mitre. He studied law and during the war of the Triple Alliance, founded the Society for the Portection of Invalids, a corps of nurses to treat the injured that arrived at the Port of Buenos Aires and move them to the Hospice for Invalids, which he also founded.
Paz founded La Prensa in 1869 with a commitment to independent journalism. Its circulation and influence became so great that they were able to staff foreign correspondents in most major capital cities, which was uncommon for its era. He used his influence to become an elected representative, and then senator, in Congress. After temporary exile as a supporter of Mitre, he returned to Argentina to become national deputy in 1879 and then a diplomatic ambassador to Madrid and Paris. At the end of his life, he commissioned
Palacio Paz, still the largest single house ever built in the country.
The Paz family tomb was designed by French artist Jules-Felix Coutan, head of the École de Beaux Arts. It features two larger than life angels at the ground level reaching towards the top of the vault where a woman lies, collapsed, with an flameless oil lamp in her hand. Above her is an enormous casket from which a dove and the representation of the soul rise, to be met by a third angel.
La Cementerio de la Recoleta (Recoleta Cemetery), set in 5.5 hectares or the equivalent of about four city blocks, has more than 350,000 people buried in an estimated 4,7000 vaults--all above ground, and many of which have been declared National historical Monuments. Many of the elaborate marble mausoleums are decorated with statues, in a wide variety of architectural styles such as Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Baroque, and Neo-Gothic The cemetery was inaugurated under the name Cementerio del Norte (Northern Cemetery) on November 17, 1822, around Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Pilar, the church and convent built in 1732 and abandoned in 1822 by the monks of the Order of the Recoletos. The original 1822 layout was designed by architect and civil engineer Próspero Catelin, and an 1881 remodeling was handled by Italian architect Juan Antonio Buschiazzo.
for more information on Recoleta Cemetery, please see the fantastic AfterLife blog by Robert Wright at recoletacemetery.com.
