Living to Honor the Dead. The Palau Family’s Egyptian Arte Decó Mausoleum in the Cemetery of San Jerónimo, Córdoba, Argentina

Abstract

In this research we shall expound the symbolism of the funerary pantheon type belonging to the peripheral avant-garde movements of the Art Deco style, with Egyptian features, located in the San Jerónimo Cemetery in the capital city of Córdoba (Argentina), whose owner was one family of Spanish migrants. We consider the Egyptian or Neo-Egyptian fashion developed within the Art Deco architectural style by analyzing not only its architectural style, but also the symbolism and iconology in light of their relationship with the funeral industry. This lead us to interrogate the affiliation of this family and the relationship with the social space they occupy in Cordoba society, given their status. We also examine the social strategies deployed, such as the construction of funerary pantheons, understood as a strong commitment to symbolic capital as long a strategy for its conversion into social capital.

Keywords: San Jerónimo graveyard, Art Decó, migrations, death, pantheons