The year 2022 ends on a very low note, with football icon Pele losing the battle with cancer on December 29. But if there’s a heaven, Pele is smiling down on us from there, because his final resting place will be worth of his reputation as the greatest player of all time.
In southern Brazil, amid the skyscrapers and the lush forest, rises a building that looks very much like your regular apartment building but is, in reality, a record-breaking cemetery. The place is so famous it even has its own car museum, where, among the classic cars and vintage motorcycles, is Pele’s own car. Well, one of them, at least.
The Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica, completed in 1984 by former developer Pepe Altstut, is a 14-story building that aims to break the taboo around cemeteries and help loved ones overcome the grief of mourning. Since 1991, it has held the title of the world’s tallest cemetery in the Guinness Book of World Records, with over 14,000 vaults and a private mausoleum, and has become a tourist attraction due to its features that range from a waterfall, a roof terrace with a tropical garden, and the aforementioned car museum.
The museum is located on the ground floor and comprises mostly vintage and classic automobiles and motorcycles. The video below shows some of them: early Fords and Royal Enfields, some of them very rare and all in excellent condition, and visitors that put grieving aside for a few moments to take in this kind of well-preserved beauty.
Pele, nee Edson Arantes do Nascimento, will be buried here on January 2, 2023, but not before a public ceremony at the Sao Paulo Santos stadium, where fans will be able to pay their respects. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that such a famous burial spot was chosen for the man credited to have elevated football to the level of art, and one of the most popular sports figures of the 20th century. But as it turns out, Pele and the Memorial have another thing in common: Pele’s 1,000th goal Mercedes.
That would be a 1974 Mercedes Benz 280-S, gifted to Pele by German businessman Roland Endler, president of the Bayern Munich F.C., which he saved from bankruptcy. Endler initially gave Pele a 250 W114 model to mark his 1,000th goal, but Mercedes-Benz reached out to the football star five years later and exchanged it for the 280-S (W116).
Pele would later sell the vehicle, but the carmaker tracked it down, restored it, put armor on it, and on the 35th anniversary of the 1,000th goal, gave it back to Pele. It’s only fitting that he is now reunited with this storied classic, even if that only means being in the same building.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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