阿根廷首都的藝術墓地

我游覽過中國的十三陵和東陵、埃及的金字塔、英國的威斯敏斯特教堂、梵蒂岡大教堂，親眼目睹了各國古代帝王、教皇和高貴名人的墓葬。我也聽說羅馬尼亞有個“快樂墓地”，它的最大特點是每塊墓碑上都刻有幽默、快樂的碑文，給活著的人以快樂，至于墳墓建得如何，我沒見過。倒是阿根廷首都布宜諾斯艾利斯市中心的一塊墓地，讓我記憶猶新。

到布宜諾斯艾利斯旅游，導游往往會推薦你游覽位于市中心的雷科萊塔公墓，說是很特別。我曾兩次去過雷科萊塔公墓，第一次是阿根廷接待方安排去的，第二次是我建議大家去的。

在布宜諾斯艾利斯市中心，在商店和高級住宅包圍中的雷科萊塔公墓，建有高高的圍墻，高大豪華的大門口不會使人想到里面是墓地。跨進大門口，正中央的地上鑲嵌著一塊銅牌，標著四個阿拉伯數字——“1822”。導游讓我們猜這4個阿拉伯數字的含意。我們很自然就猜中那是建立墓地的時間。

建立于1822年的這塊墓地，是由一個教堂的后花園改建的，占地10英畝(約60市畝)，目前葬有大約7000位阿根廷社會歷代精英，其中有23位阿根廷正副總統。這些死者的身份決定了葬在公墓里的人不可能是一般平民，而是達官顯貴。在阿根廷，貴族身份是很嚴格的，需要其家族擁有十世以上的貴族榮耀保持，非“暴發戶”可以偶然“入流”。因此，雷科萊塔公墓自誕生起就奠定了其“貴族血統”。但雷科萊塔公墓的特別之處主要不在于其“貴族血統”，而在于其墳墓建筑。這也是雷科萊塔公墓給我印象深刻的地方。從大門往里走，迎面是一幢幢排列整齊有序的宮殿般小樓。一條條約兩三米寬的水泥通道縱橫交錯，路邊種有許多幾十年甚至上百年樹齡的樹木，“街道”呈井字型，另有4條對角線斜街，里面儼然是一個濃縮的街區。

小樓與正常房屋相仿，只是寬度、高度按比例縮小。有華麗的門面，大理石貼墻，許多門口鑲著人物、動物浮雕，鐵制大柵門。室內布置得富貴逼人，彩色地磚、水晶吊燈、臺燈等家什十分齊全，還有鍍金、鎦金甚至純金的裝飾，用料精美，設計別致，而且絕無雷同，風格迥異。游人站在門口，透過玻璃門或窗戶往里面望去，里面的擺設一目了然，也依稀可見一具具精美的棺材一層層地疊放著——按照家族成員的去世時間順序自下而上疊放。要不是看到棺材，人們不會覺得這是墳墓。其實，小樓就是墳墓，由其所有者家族世代所有，自行設計、布局和裝飾，風格多為哥特式，大的占地有數十平方米，小的僅幾平方米，以兩層的為多，三層的也有，有的還有地下室，上下樓的樓梯也與真的一樣。陵墓似一座座縮小版的宮殿，靜穆而肅然。

一般來說，到墓地，人們都會覺得陰森和沉郁。但到雷科萊塔公墓，大家根本沒有這種感覺，反而像是在參觀雕塑博物館。在雷科萊塔墓園，到處都是雕塑，其中不乏歐洲名家構思奇特、寓意無窮的雕塑精品，有勇武的猛士、有柔媚的女神。除西方傳說中的守護神雕塑外，有些雕塑還富有生活氣息，如侍女、小童和貓狗，殿檐上還有吉祥天使等。有的陵墓還有畫卷般的敘事雕塑，追敘幾代人的奮斗史，用雕塑來表現其思想特征和行為特色，記錄家族的興旺歷程。有的墓室里面也有各式各樣的雕塑，有些是遺像，有些是神話中保護天使的雕像。這些充滿靈性的雕塑陪伴著死者度過了一個個寂寞的春秋冬夏。

雕塑賦予了雷科萊塔墓園一種靈性。墓主們生活態度的表達和雕塑藝術的結合，飽含著文化的、藝術的無窮韻味。這種難以模仿的藝術裝點是墓園的精華所在，也是其最特別的地方。環視小樓般的墳墓，恍惚間我們覺得自己不是置身于墓園中，而是到了一座雕塑公園。精美的建筑充滿著靈氣，讓游人享受著浪漫藝術。

公墓的藝術氣息解答了我們的一些疑問。我們有的人說，在幾千個死人旁喝咖啡、居住，阿根廷人不忌諱嗎?正是這個公墓建筑所具有的人文情懷，使阿根廷人少了些忌諱，多了些親近。使阿根廷人與這些死人為鄰的另一個重要原因，是阿根廷人認為這里是塊風水寶地，在周邊做生意可以沾染“貴氣”。因此，此地人氣格外興旺。每到周末，公墓外的法蘭西廣場會聚集上百個各色手工藝品小攤主，組成了布宜諾斯艾利斯最著名的特色集市。

我們的阿根廷歷史博士生導游特意帶我們參觀了一下“貝隆夫人”的墓地。“貝隆夫人”在阿根廷歷史上具有重要意義，在雷科萊塔公墓也是最有影響的。因此，來雷科萊塔公墓參觀者總會來看看“貝隆夫人”。

“貝隆夫人”是阿根廷總統胡安·貝隆的第二任妻子。她積極支持丈夫競選總統，在丈夫當選為總統后，從事政府工作，在阿根廷國家事務中起了重要的作用，深受阿根廷人的崇拜。她于1952年33歲時因病死亡，死后16年才被葬到雷科萊塔公墓。在阿根廷，沒有一個像她那么短暫的生命卻對歷史產生了深遠的影響。她是阿根廷人的驕傲。

她的陵墓并沒有想象中的壯觀，也沒有任何特別的標志，只是位于雷科萊塔公墓一條極其普通的墓道旁。這是她父親家族的墓地。在U形的陵墓黑色大理石門框左側，一小塊長方形銅板雕刻著她的名字和頭像。對于她的貴族家族而言，她的地位從不顯赫，甚至曾經被懷疑過她的血統是否正宗。時至今日，這已不重要。重要的是有大量的阿根廷人民前來陵墓拜謁她，也有許多外國人來看她。她的墓前，總會擺著一些鮮花，從不間斷。據說，有一位70多歲的耄耋老人，每天清晨都會來到貝隆夫人的陵墓前，如癡如醉地拉上一曲小提琴，仿佛想通過音樂向墓中的靈魂傳遞情感，場面十分溫馨而感人。□

Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires

By Luo Haiying

In my world tours， I have visited quite a few mausoleums and witnessed the regal grandeur of the 13 Ming Tombs in Beijing， the pyramids in Egypt， the Westminster Abbey， and Vatican. Recoleta Cemetery in the exclusive Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires， Argentina， however， appeals to me in a special way.

To those who tour Buenos Aires， the Recoleta Cemetery in downtown is always recommended. And fortunately， I have visited the famous cemetery twice.

Located in the heart of Buenos Aires， the cemetery is encircled by a high wall. The magnificent gates suggest nobleness and art rather than an ordinary cemetery.

It was a garden of a church and got converted into the Recoleta Cemetery in 1822. The 14，000-acre cemetery is now the final resting place of about 7，000 Argentines of greatest prestige and power of Buenos Aires including 23 presidents and vice presidents.

The first time I stepped through the gates I saw the number 1822 etched on a bronze plate. The guide asked us to guess what the number meant. All of us figured it out pretty soon. The guide said that commoners and upstarts wouldn’t have a chance to be buried there.

I was not particularly impressed by the noble pedigrees featured by the cemetery， but I was fascinated by the architectural splendor of the mausoleums and the layout of the cemetery. The cemetery is laid out in sections like city blocks， with wide tree-lined main walkways stretching away into sidewalks flanked by mausoleums. The walkways and sidewalks form a grid， crisscrossed by four diagonal walkways. The mausoleums look like palaces in miniaturized proportions. A mausoleum can have a door， marble walls， sculptures of humans and animals， iron gates. I sidled up to a house and looked into the window. Inside were miniature furniture， colored ground tiles， crystal chandeliers and table lamps. Inside you can see coffins laid out one upon another in the chronological order of deaths. Only these coffins made me aware that I was visiting a cemetery. Most mausoleums are two-story structures. Some even have basements.

The Recoleta Cemetery does not look somber and melancholy. It looks like an open museum of sculptures. Sculptures present warriors and goddesses as well as children， maids， cats， and dogs. Some sculptures tell stories of family members of several generations. Inside some vaults are portraits of the dead and sculptures of guarding angels.

In my opinion， the sculptures are the most outstanding feature of the Recoleta Cemetery. The artistry of the cemetery is unique. Looking around， I felt as if I was in a park of sculptures. A fellow tourist wondered why Argentines did not view it a taboo to live and sip coffee near the thousands of dead people. I think the artistry and human touch of the cemetery attract people. Another explanation is that the local residents believe the cemetery is a land with good geomantic omen. No wonder hundreds of artisans gather on Saturday afternoons in the Plaza Francia. The handicraft market there is the largest of its kind in Argentina.

Our tour guide was a PhD specialized in history. He took us to the tomb of Eva Perón (1919-1952). She was the second wife of President Juan Perón and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952 at the age of 33. She is still much loved in Argentina. Her mausoleum was nothing spectacular. Situated by an ordinary walkway， it was part of her father’s family burial ground. Etched on a small bronze plate on the black marble faccedil;ade was her name and portrait. I learned that she was never considered important within her father’s family. But what is important is that people including some foreigners come to visit her mausoleum. There are always flowers in front of her tomb. It is said that a man， now in his 70s， visits the tomb every morning and plays the violin there. I did not see the old man， but it touched my heartstring to envision him and his music making on the violin.

Another noteworthy aspect of the cemetery is the cats. I saw a lot of cats and all of them looked oversized and fat. Some wandered lazily around; some stretched and yawned; some slept. Many tourists photographed these cats. □