Cemetery Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Paris and one of the most visited in the world. Whether it's for its history, notable personalities, or even legends, it's a place you shouldn't miss in the capital.

Although the Père Lachaise cemetery is now known around the world, it was not always a popular burial place for many Parisians. On 1 December 1780, the Cimetière des Innocents, now known as Les Halles, was closed. The bodies from the Cemetery of the Innocents were transferred to the Paris Catacombs. There was a lack of burial places in the capital, and several cemeteries, such as Montparnasse Cemetery, Montmartre Cemetery, Passy Cemetery, and finally, Père Lachaise Cemetery, were created at the beginning of the 19th century.

On 18 June 1804, the Père Lachaise cemetery welcomed its first resident, a little girl who was five years old at the time of her death: Adélaïde Paillard. Others followed, nevertheless the majority of Parisians from the right bank, for whom the cemetery was intended, refused to be buried outside the walls of the capital, and even more so in an area considered poor and working-class.

So how did Père Lachaise Cemetery become the iconic site it is today? Thanks to a good communication campaign! To make the cemetery more attractive to Parisians, the Prefect of Paris took a game-changing decision: to transfer the remains of famous and admired personalities to Père Lachaise.

Thus, in this cemetery, the supposed bodies of the famous writer Molière and the famous fable writer Jean de La Fontaine found themselves next to each other. The remains of Héloïse and Abélard, a famous couple with a troubled history, were also transferred here. Successful challenge!

In 1815, the cemetery had only 2,000 graves, but by 1830, the number had grown to 33,000! Père Lachaise soon grew into the gigantic cemetery with 70,000 graves that we know today, including the graves of Oscar Wilde, Proust, Balzac, Delacroix, Chopin, Edith Piaf, and, more recently, Alain Bashung.

Currently, the cemetery covers forty-four hectares, making it the third largest green area in the city, after the Boulogne and Vincennes woods. You will find over three hundred thousand different graves and monuments here; people from various walks of life and different circles are buried here, from ordinary Parisians to the rich strata of the population to famous artists and politicians.

It is not for nothing that Parisians honor the cemetery familiarly and lovingly with the nickname "city of the dead." It sounds quite creepy, and few people can imagine a cemetery as a place for a romantic walk or a date, but here, everything is possible. Picturesque alleys on the slope, thousands of mature trees, in one part geometric and in the other chaotic alleys, paved with granite cubes, invite you to wander and discover interesting corners. And if you look hard enough, you'll also discover a magical and completely unconventional view of Paris.