SANTOS: Pele was a footballer like no other, and his final resting place will be exceptional, too: a large replica stadium complete with artificial turf inside the world’s tallest vertical cemetery.
The Brazilian football great, whose funeral was held Tuesday after his death last week at age 82, bought his mausoleum 19 years ago inside the Memorial Ecumenical Cemetery, a veritable high-rise that holds the Guinness World Record for the tallest cemetery on Earth.
Located in Santos, the southeastern port city where “The King” played most of his storied career, the cemetery has a total area of 40,000 square metres (430,000 square feet) and features a 24-hour restaurant, a chapel, an automobile museum, a small fish pond and an aviary.
Located on the first floor, Pele’s 200-square-metre mausoleum will be decorated like a football stadium, with his embalmed body resting in a coffin displayed in the middle of the artificial turf, surrounded by gilded images from his glory days, a spokesman for the cemetery said.
Edson Arantes do Nascimento—Pele’s real name—had spoken openly about his planned resting place, saying in 2003 that he liked the spot because it “doesn’t look like a cemetery” and gave him a feeling of “spiritual peace and tranquility.”
The striking white building was conceived by late Argentine businessman Jose Salomon Altstut, who broke ground on the project in 1983.
Officially inaugurated in 1991, it has a total of 18,000 interment spaces, and became the first vertical cemetery in the world to provide space for mausoleums.
The cemetery’s website says clients are allowed to “create a decorated space” in their mausoleums, which can even include en-suite rest areas for mourners.
Pele’s late father, aunt, brother and daughter are already interred in the same place, as well as Antonio Wilson Honorio, nicknamed “Coutinho,” his teammate at Santos FC in the 1960s.
The cemetery sits a stone’s throw from Santos’ Vila Belmiro stadium, where Pele first dazzled the world as a 15-year-old phenom, on his way to scoring a record 1,281 career goals and becoming the only player in history to win three World Cups.
Earlier Tuesday crying, waving flags and chanting “1,000 goals!”, Brazilians flooded the streets to say a final farewell to Pele, widely considered the greatest player in history.
After three days of national mourning, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led the tributes as streams of fans, politicians and football dignitaries descended on the southeastern city of Santos for the wake and funeral procession of the player known as “The King,” who died last week at age 82.
Santos FC, the club where Pele spent most of his storied career, said some 250,000 people had attended his 24-hour wake in the Vila Belmiro stadium, where mourners continued arriving straight through the night.
Lula, who took office Sunday in a ceremony that started with a minute’s silence for Pele, was visibly moved as he and First Lady Rosangela “Janja” da Silva attended the wake, embracing the player’s widow, Marcia Cibele Aoki, who was in tears.
“Goodbye to the King. Rest in peace, Pele,” Lula wrote on Twitter.
The wake ended with a brief Catholic ceremony, after which 10 state police guards in dress uniform closed Pele’s black casket.
Draped in the black-and-white flag of Santos FC and the green-and-yellow one of Brazil, the coffin was then placed atop a firetruck and given a massive funeral procession through the city.
Huge crowds of fans, some in tears, lined the streets and gathered on balconies to say a last goodbye, chanting “1,000 goals, only Pele!”
The procession included an emotional stop at the house where Pele’s 100-year-old mother, Celeste Arantes, still lives. “Dona Celeste,” as she is known, has cognitive difficulties, and is unaware her world-famous son has died, according to the family. But Pele’s sister, Maria Lucia, who lives with her, appeared on the beige house’s balcony surrounded by family.
The 78-year-old clasped her hands and tearfully bowed her head to the massive crowd in gratitude.
The procession ended at the port city’s Memorial Cemetery, near the stadium, where a private funeral service was held.
Pele was then interred in a 10-story mausoleum that holds the Guinness World Record as the tallest cemetery on Earth.
A spokesman for the cemetery said Pele’s embalmed body would rest in its coffin, displayed in the middle of a 200-square-metre (2,150-square-foot) replica football stadium with artificial turf, surrounded by gilded images from his glory days.
“It’s a difficult moment,” 33-year-old fan Jonatas Versolato said as the coffin was brought into the cemetery.
“Pele was an idol not just to the nation but the entire world. Saying the final goodbye is going to leave a giant hole.”
Pele is the only player in history to win three World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970).
He scored a world record 1,281 goals during his more than two-decade career with Santos (1956-74), the New York Cosmos (1975-77) and the Brazilian national team.
He died Thursday after a battle with cancer.
