Chacarita Moderna

Explore the brutalist necropolis of Buenos Aires

In 1949, at a time when Argentina was one of the most powerful countries in the world, the city of Buenos Aires launched the construction of the Sexto Panteón, an underground necropolis containing 150,000 burial plots. This monumental Brutalist-style cemetery is the first and largest experimentation of modern architecture applied to the funerary field, and yet remains unknown.

Ítala Fulvia Villa (1913-1991), the project’s forgotten architect, was one of Argentina's first female architects and urban planners. As a pioneer of South American modernism, she contributed to Le Corbusier's master plan for Buenos Aires.

Sixty years later, the French architect Léa Namer discovers the Sexto Panteón and resurrects the name of its creator, carrying out an in-depth investigation of this unique modern cemetery. This book is a thoughtful and engaging reflection on the legacy of a modern utopia, as well as a feminist re-reading of history.

With texts by Léa Namer and Ana Maria León
Photos by Federico Cairoli