The place is covered in artificial grass, surrounded by images of fans on the stands of a stadium and endless sounds of cheers, as if Pelé were still playing.
"The creation was inspired by love and by him. We have all this stadium context, with people all around, we have this entrance as people were arriving in the field, what he did endless times," one of Pelé’s sons Edson Cholbi Nascimento, known as Edinho, said.
Fans stand next to the tomb of the late Brazilian soccer great Pele which became open to the public for the first time, at the mausoleum of Necropole Ecumenica Memorial Cemetery in Santos, Brazil on Monday, May 15, 2023.
The mausoleum was planned by the owner of the cemetery, Pepe Alstut, a close friend of Pelé's.
Alstut died in 2018 and initially hoped it lie on one of the top floors of the building, eyeing Santos FC's Vila Belmiro Stadium. Pelé's family did not follow that plan, and buried him on the second floor so fans could have better access to the mausoleum.
Fans willing to attend are required to register on the cemetery's website for visitation between Mondays and Fridays.
"I am shaking. The energy of this place is surreal," Erica Nascimento, a tearful 42-year-old economist, said .
Former footballer Roberto Milano, 56, was also moved.
"He was part of my life day by day," Milano said. "We grow old trying to follow role models, and he was perhaps the biggest of these role models."
Fans visit the tomb of the late Brazilian soccer great Pele which became open to the public for the first time at the mausoleum of Necropole Ecumenica Memorial Cemetery in Santos, Brazil on Monday, May 15, 2023.
The three-time World Cup champion died of colon cancer on December 29 at age 82.
Pelé, born Edson Arantes do Nascimentoa died in Sao Paulo in December last year. He was the only man to win the World Cup three times as a player, and in a 21-year career, he scored a total of 1,283 goals.
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Pelé's Mausoleum in Brazil Opens to Public
Some information in this article was sourced from Reuters