MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Number of visitors to Pele's mausoleum on the rise

Pele died on Dec. 29, 2022

German travelers topped the list of foreign visitors to pay their respects to the late football legend Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, it was reported Thursday in Santos, Brazil, one day before the first anniversary of his passing.

Since it was opened in May, over 7,000 tourists walked through the mausoleum (known as Memorial Ecumenical Necropolis) 900 meters from the Vila Belmiro stadium where Pele started his road to stardom.

“People have already come from Egypt, Ukraine, and Russia,” mausoleum access controller Alcyr dos Santos was quoted by Estadao as saying. “The people who come here the most are Germans; today, a Belgian man's wife commented that Germans are fanatical about Brazilian soccer,” he added.

Built five years ago, the personalized tomb features a photo of Pelé and his remains in a 200 square meter room on the second floor of the building, which the Guinness Book of Records deemed the highest cemetery on the planet, Estadao also noted.

The site is open daily from 9am to 12pm and from 2pm to 6pm, with no stipulated length of stay. Visitors were not required to register in advance until this month a surge in the number of fans made this measure necessary.

“There will never be anyone like Pelé,” dos Santos believes. “I joke with my father that if at least half of the Santos team had any of Pelé's characteristics, they wouldn't have been relegated to Serie B,” he added.

At the entrance to the room, there are two life-size golden statues of Pelé made of brass. The ceiling where he rests displays a reproduction of a painting of the sky. The walls are decorated with historical images of the athlete and the floor is covered in synthetic grass. The tomb is also covered in golden aluminum plates and has four panels: two depict Pelé's goals and the other two, his celebration with the traditional punch in the air. In the four corners of the tomb, there are corners in the shape of the Jules Rimet Cup, a Brazilian national team shirt, and a Santos shirt, both worn by the player.

(Source: Estadao)