Project to install a gift shop at a Recoleta Cemetery vault gets cancelled

The Cemetery of Recoleta, one of the historic landmarks of Buenos Aires City, will not have a gift shop nor sell coffee and food at one of its vaults, like the local administration had planned. On Monday, BA City Judge Roberto Gallardo ordered the local government to stop its plans to install a commercial shop inside the vault and take down the tender it had launched in early August to award concession for using the tomb’s structure to a private firm for five years. The judge also ordered the local administration to refrain from expropriating the property, a process that was already in place and was a necessary step to move forward with the plans to install the shop. According to the local administration, the vault was “abandoned” and the owners are in substantial debt with the public cemetery after failing to pay the expenses for the past 20 years. The Buenos Aires City government complied with the decision, which follows a judicial complaint made by the family who owns the vault. Last week, members of the Girado family requested a protection writ on the vault, asking the judiciary to annul the expropriation process and demanding a suspension on the commercial plans. Use of the space where the vault is located was granted in perpetuity to the Girado family in the 1890s. The BA City government said in a statement that there are 30 registered owners, and that they have not paid for the maintenance of the structure since 2007. They added that they owe over AR$22.2 million in terms of maintenance (around US$14,600 at the official exchange rate) and an additional AR$ 15.5 million (US$10,200) for reparation works made by the capital city’s administration. The city said they have sent formal notices to the heirs and published several notifications since 2025, “but no one took care of the indebted sum.” “The procedure to expropriate vaults is always the same, in all cemeteries: the legal owners are notified, and if they do not present themselves, the judicial process moves forward,” the statement said. A family’s complaint Lucía Girado, one of the family heirs, claims neither she nor around 10 relatives she spoke with ever received a notification and were not aware of the tender. She told outlet La Nación that she learned about the plans to install the gift shop over social media. While the Buenos Aires City government has issued notices mentioning dozens of people from the Girado family, Lucía said “they are all dead.” She also denied that the vault is abandoned because she frequently visits it to pay respects to her father and two grandparents that have been resting in it for over 20 years. According to the woman, over the years she and her family lost track of who is legally registered as the owner of the vault, which prevented her from taking the responsibility of paying the yearly fee and maintaining the structure. “When the vault began deteriorating, I went several times to ask about it, and they told me that the owner had to come — the one who has the papers,” she said. “No one knows who has them; it’s an ancestral vault, and ownership kept passing from one person to another.” Last week, Judge Gallardo ordered the closure of the vault, which remained fenced down. The closure was ordered following a judicial visit to the vault accompanied by Lucía, María and Pablo Girado, which allowed the judge to confirm the coffins are still inside. After the visit, Pablo Girado reportedly stated in a judicial document that some of the coffins were missing, while others were on the ground or damaged. He said the coffins were intact the last time he visited the vault two weeks ago. Asked by the Herald, the Buenos Aires City administration said the coffins are still in the vault, but did not address Girado’s claims.