The Cemetery of Père Lachaise (Paris, France)

The East Cemetery of Paris, well known as "Père Lachaise", was opened in 1804 as a response to the closure of ancient and overcrowded churchyards.

About the cemetery

The site was initially located in open country, now it towers over Paris. Alexandre Théodore Brongniart (the architect of the centre city la Bourse), designed the cemetery as a contemplative space, inspired by the British gardens.

The global fame and reputation of the cemetery is based on its many characteristics:

• It still conserves material testimonies of its first appearance. The history of the foundation of cemeteries during the 19th century has been marked by the Romantic conception of Brongniart and several European burial sites have emulated it. 
• It is the last home of many important figures (from Chopin to Jim Morrison) and shelters memorials of great importance (from the “Mur des Fédérés of the Commune of Paris to memorials of concentration camps). The associated monuments are often realized by the greatest artists of all nations. 
• The walk through the place is always different and surprising because of numerous extravagant monuments (the smokestack of the Beaujour grave, the telegraph of the Chappe’s tomb, the Allan Kardec’s Dolmen, etc.) and the beauty of the park.
• Last but not least, the cemetery also covers a complete set of funerary buildings, linked to the history and the organisation of the Mortuary Services, such as the Chapel, the Crematorium, the Columbarium and the Boneyard.

Address

The Cemetery of Père Lachaise
8, boulevard de Ménilmontant
75020 Paris
France

Contacts

Tel. +33 155258210
Tel/Fax: +33 143704216

Website: The Cemetery of Père Lachaise

Paris Catacombs Tour

Explore the ancient underground tomb that house over 6 million Parisian bodies.

The Parisian Cemetery of Thiais (Paris, France)

The Parisian Cemetery of Thiais is one of three so called cemeteries "extra muros" located in the commune of Thiais in Paris.

Cemetery "extra muros"

As a result of various expansions, the city of Paris has integrated numerous cemeteries amongst which six are said to be “extramuros” because the proper territory of the town doesn’t include them. The cemetery of Thiais belongs to this category.

Landscape and funerary districts

Opened in 1929, Thiais shows some contrast characteristics:

• The natural environment is rich of 6000 trees of various species. In the course of the seasons, they reinvent the landscape. 
• The “garden of brotherhood” offers a tomb to anyone who needs it. It’s a very specific district which only exists in Thiais. 
• The confessional districts host confessional gatherings that are allowed as long as the districts are not physically defined. The grouping of obedience in Thiais remains without equal in France.

Important monumens

• The design of the main entrance is an example of modernist architecture of the 1930’s. It comines concrete and metal. 
• The cemetery shelters specific memorials such as the one of the dead who gave their bodies to Science or the victims of Ermenonville’s one (an airplane catastrophe).
• There are also several famous personalities buried at Thiais such as Joseph Roth (author of the Radetzky March), Leon Sédou (Trotsky’s son) or Paul Celan (writer, said to be the “poet of the holocaust”) and others..

*Photo source: www.blog.kermorvan.fr

Address

Conservation du cimetière parisien de Thiais
Route de Fontainebleau 261
94320 Paris
France

Contacts

Tel. +33 141732730
Fax: +33 146872188

Website: Cemeteries of Paris

The Cemetery of Montparnasse (Paris, France)

The Cemetery of Montparnasse owns a double identity - both traditional and avant-gardist.

About the cemetery

The cemetery of Montparnasse was originally known as Le Cimetière du Sud (Southern Cemetery) and it officially opened 25 July 1824. Since its opening, more than 300,000 people have been buried there. The actual space of the cemetery was formerly a huge stone heap, hence its quite ironical the name of  “Mount-Parnassus”. From these days remains a mill at the heart of the cemetery, which has no mortuary use. 

Like the other main cemeteries of the city, the Cemetery of Montparnasse could also be considered as a real garden-museum for the 19th century monuments and home to numerous historic personalities (from Aloysius Bertrand and Saint-Saëns or Huysmans).

But the cemetery also offers an exceptional concentration of artwork realisations and celebrities of the 20th century. Here lie the Surrealist authors (like Desnos), the exile writers (like Ionesco, Cioran and Beckett) and other famous artists (from Brassaï to Gainsbourg). 

*Photo source: www.wikipedia.org

Address

The Cemetery of Montparnasse
3, boulevard Edgard-Quinet
75014 Paris
France

Contacts

Tel. 00 33144108650
Tel/Fax: 00 33144108686

Website: Cemeteries of Paris

The Cemetery of Montmartre (Paris, France)

The Cemetery of Montmartre is the third largest necropolis in Paris, after the Père Lachaise Cemetery and the Montparnasse Cemetery.

About the cemetery

The funeral vocation of the area was born during the French Revolution, when this former plaster pit has been used for the burial of the executed royal guards. Finally, the place was officially opened as the “North Cemetery” in 1825. Though smaller, the cemetery evokes the Pere-Lachaise, for numerous reasons:

• The hilly site and its sinuous ways create a Romantic atmosphere.
• The cemetery appears like a natural reserve with its 750 trees at the heart of a hectic district.
• Most of all, the cemetery offers an artistic and cultural heritage worthy of the Père-Lachaise.

The recumbent statue of Cavaignac (by Rude) and the surprising monument of Osiris (with a copy of Michelange’s Moses) evoke the artistic richness of the place whereas the graves of the Montmartre artists (such as Zola, Degas, Berlioz) highlight its historic importance.

In conclusion, the Cemetery of Montmartre is as rich and poetical as the Père-Lachaise, but less crowded, calmer and suitable for understanding the history of the neighbourhood and the city.

*Photo source: www.wikipedia.org

Address

The Cemetery of Montmartre
Avenue Rachel 20
75018 Paris
France

Contacts

Tel. +33 153423630
Fax: +33 143875379

Website: Cemeteris of Paris