If Montparnasse Cemetery Considered the cemetery of intellectuals, the Montmartre cemetery is considered, rightly or wrongly, to be the cemetery of actors, dancers and artists, although spiritual giants such as Heinrich Heine are also buried there. It is a relatively small cemetery compared to Montparnasse andPere Lachaise And it is located in a bustling environment where you can find, among other things, theMoulin Rouge.
When you enter, you will feel as if you have entered a giant hole in the ground, and to be honest, this feeling is not far from reality, since the Montmartre cemetery is located on the site of former gypsum mines. These mines were abandoned during the 18th century and converted into a cemetery, not before causing the square next to them to be called Place Blanche (“White Square”, after the white dust that came out of the nearby gypsum mines). The gypsum mines did not immediately become the cemetery you know, but first became a large mass grave of victims French Revolution And only at the beginning of the 19th century did it become an organized cemetery.
The fact that you feel like you’re entering a hole in the ground, and the bridge that runs over the cemetery, make the experience of visiting the place a little claustrophobic. The crowded tombstones and statues also add to the melancholic atmosphere, especially if you walk there in winter or autumn. If you think about it, Montmartre Cemetery is a cemetery like a cemetery should be. Not some giant garden like the Pere Lachaise, but a sad, dark and depressing place. In short – the perfect cemetery 🙂
If this introduction didn't make you grab your feet and run back to the land of the living, you are welcome to join me on a visit to one of the most interesting cemeteries in Paris.
A little logistics before we start
How do we get there?
The best way to get to the Montmartre Cemetery is to take line 2 of theMetro And get off at Place Blanche. From there, walk and enter via Avenue Rachel. Another option is to get off at the Place Clichy station, where lines 2 and 13 pass, and walk along Boulevard Clichy until you reach Avenue Rachel.
Opening Hours
The cemetery of Montmartre Open every day until 18:00 PM. On Saturday it opens at 08:30 AM, on Sunday at 09:00 AM, and on other days at 08:00 AM.
Cemetery map
At the entrance to the cemetery there is a map where you can find all the graves of the “celebs”. You can also buy a map at one of the flower shops nearby. If you would like an electronic version of the map, you are welcome to go toLink this And download the map as a PDF file. The file can be printed at home before flying, or read from it on a mobile phone (a little less convenient).
The cats of the Montmartre cemetery
During my research for this article, I discovered that this cemetery serves as a sort of shelter for stray cats. Although the municipality Paris I don't really like the idea, the people who live nearby feed them and take care of them, until cats became the unofficial rulers of the cemetery. Personally, I don't remember many cats when I visited there in August 2019 (maybe they also went out for the traditional Vaucans), but I was told that if you come across a cat then it is advisable to leave it alone, because some cats are nice but some may scratch.
If you would like to read more about the cats of the Montmartre Cemetery, you are welcome to read theThis article.
Secrets of Le Marais: A Journey into the Historic and Chic Heart of Paris
Join us on a virtual journey to the most fascinating district in Paris. Together we will discover hidden courtyards, French nobility, and the true stories behind the magnificent facades.
A walking tour of the most interesting tombs of the Montmartre Cemetery
Start your walk on Avenue Principale to the square and from there go to Avenue Dubuisson. Before continuing there, I recommend you take a look at plot number 19, where the empty tomb of Emile Zola (If you want to visit his current grave you will need to go toPantheon).
Dalida 1933-1987
After visiting what used to be Zola's tomb, continue straight on Avenue Dubuisson until it intersects with Avenue Hector Berlioz. Take a right and you will reach the tomb of the singer Delilah.
Delilah was one of the most successful pop singers in the history of French pop. Despite her great success, life was not always kind to her (especially in the area of relationships). As a result, she decided to take her own life in 1987 and was buried in the Montmartre cemetery (the square named after her is also in Montmartre, about a 20-minute walk from the cemetery). Given the admiration she received during her life, it is not surprising that her grave is very well-kept and you can find a few flowers and flower pots from fans there.
If you would like to read about her fascinating life and enjoy all of her great poems, you are invited to read Dr. Orna Lieberman’s article. Delilah Forever – The Dramatic Life of the Singer Who Became a Legend.
Hector Berlioz 1803-1869
Return to the intersection where you turned right onto Avenue Hector Berlioz, and this time turn left onto lot number 20. There you will find the grave of composer Hector Berlioz, after whom the avenue is named.
Hector Berlioz was a great symphonic composer who achieved great success in his early career, but he was not very lucky in love. His wedding to his first love was canceled because the mother of the future bride was strongly opposed to their relationship. The desperate Berlioz decided to murder both the mother and the bride, but he forgot the costume he intended to wear during the murder in the carriage…
From there, things only got worse. During a routine walk through the cemetery, he discovered that one of the women he loved had died, when he suddenly stumbled upon her grave. When he finally managed to find a woman named Harriet Smithson, who had not run away or died before marrying him, he discovered that she was an alcoholic. But there is no evil without good – this woman, after all, was the inspiration for Berlioz’s greatest work, the “Symphonie fantastique”. Before we continue with the story of Berlioz’s unfortunate fate, you are invited to listen to my favorite part of this symphony, the Ball.
If you thought that was the end of Berlioz’s troubles, you were wrong. He managed to divorce his alcoholic wife and marry his second wife, Maria Recio, who died of a stroke at the age of 48, relatively soon after the wedding. At least Berlioz was blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law, who stayed with him after her daughter’s death and cared for him until his death in 1869. His last words, by the way, were, “Now at last they will play my music.”
François Truffaut (1932-1984)
Not far from Berlioz's grave lies the tomb of the famous director François Truffaut, in plot number 21. Although the tombstone, as you will see, is not particularly interesting, it is definitely worth lingering here for a while, in order to pay homage to one of the greatest filmmakers of France In the 20th century.
He began his career as a film critic for the journal Cahiers du Cinéma, which still exists today. Contrary to the famous saying, “He who does not know how to do, criticizes,” Truffaut used all the theoretical knowledge he had accumulated and his love of cinema to create some of the greatest films of the New Wave, including The 400 Lashes and Gilles et Gilles, from which I would like to quote the charming song performed by Jeanne Moreau:
Gustave Guillaume 1840-1887
Return to Avenue Hector Berlioz and at the intersection turn left this time onto Avenue Cordier. There, in lot number 3, you will find the painter Gustave Guillaumet.
He is one of the lesser-known painters of the 19th century, who was famous at the time for his paintings of North Africa. Unfortunately for him, shortly after his death the Impressionists became famous and his romantic style of painting became obsolete overnight. If the beautiful tombstone, which we will discuss shortly, has made you interested in his art, you will be happy to know that you can find some of his paintings inMusee d'Orsay.
Look at this beautiful tombstone. The girl, who you see scattering flowers on a medallion with a portrait of the painter, is dressed in typical Algerian clothing. Is she sad? Or maybe a little indifferent? I'll leave the solution to the mystery to you...
Adolphe Sachs 1814-1894
Continue to plot number 4, where you will find the next grave I wanted to show you. It is the grave of Adolphe Saxe, a Belgian musician who invented the saxophone in 1846.
What many people don't know is that Adolphe Sax not only contributed to humanity the famous instrument that bears his name, but also significantly improved the way quite a few wind instruments work. However, as mentioned, it is the saxophone that brought him fame, and although a long time has passed since the invention of the saxophone, the instrument has not changed much since the first model.
Alexandre Dumas, Jr. (1824-1895)
He is known as the son of the famous writer Alexandre Dumas, who wrote, among other things, The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. However, the son certainly deserves a place in French literary history in his own right. Moreover, surprisingly, when Alexandre Dumas the Younger passed away, he was even more famous than his father.
The reason for this was his work “La Dame aux Camélias”, which tells the story of the short life of the courtesan Marie du Plessis, perhaps the most famous courtesan of the 19th century. The play was very successful on its own, but after the composer Giuseppe Verdi turned it into the opera “La Troyata”, Alexandre Dumas, the younger, gained world fame. Marie du Plessis, by the way, is buried a very short distance from his grave.
And where is Alexandre Dumas the Elder, you may ask? He is buried inPantheonIf you would like to read a little about the relationship he had with his son (and with quite a few women in his life), you are welcome to read the article. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.
Vaslav Nijinsky 1889-1951
Without a doubt, one of the tombs with the most beautiful headstones in the entire cemetery is the tomb of the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, who stunned Paris in the first decades of the 20th century.
The ballet that made Nijinsky famous was, without a doubt, “The Rite of Spring,” whose music was written by Stravinsky and choreographed by Diaghilev. It was a revolutionary work that shocked the Parisian audience but quickly entered the “canon” of classical music. If you want, you can read more about the work in Ronit Gruman’s article. The Rite of Spring – the ballet that became Paris' biggest scandal.
Let's return for a moment to the figure sitting on the tombstone. Does her gaze convey tenderness? Or do we see in it the madness that accompanied Nijinsky throughout his life and which caused him to spend most of his last 30 years in mental hospitals? I will leave you to ponder this question as we move on to the next grave.
Godefroy Cabagnac 1853-1905
I really like this tomb because of the tombstone that shows a full-size image of Godefroy lying on the tombstone. In my opinion, it is a very photogenic tombstone and I really enjoyed photographing it. What do you think?
But who was this Godfroy Cavaignac whose tombstone caught my curiosity? It turns out that he was none other than the man who read the letter that convicted Dreyfus in court. Cavaignac later discovered that the letter had been forged by Colonel Henry, yet he continued to claim until the end of his life that Dreyfus was guilty of treason and opposed a retrial.
Heinrich Heine 1797-1856
We will end our tour of the Montmartre Cemetery with the grave of Heinrich Heine: a Jewish poet and intellectual (who converted to Christianity) one of the most important of the 19th century.
Heine, who was persecuted for much of his time in his native Prussia, moved to live and work in Paris in 1831, where he worked as a reporter for the newspaper “Allgemeine Zeitung”. In 1848, just at the time of the revolution that overthrew Louis Philippe, Heine apparently contracted multiple sclerosis or muscular dystrophy. As a result, he was forced to spend the last eight years of his life in his bed, which he called “my mattress tomb”. Despite his difficult physical condition, he continued to create and write almost until his last day.
An interesting anecdote: If you go to Heinrich Heine's grave, you will discover that although he died in 1856, his neighbor was a Jew named Bukowze, who died during the 20th century. You will probably ask yourself how the plot of land next to such a great poet remained vacant for about a century. The answer is much simpler than you think. The plot next to Heine did not remain vacant for long after his death, and was taken over by an unknown person. However, according to the cemetery's rules, if you did not pay enough money to be buried for all generations, then after a few decades your bones will be removed from the grave, the tombstone will be taken down, and someone else will be buried there in your place.
Was Mr. Bukowza a more shrewd real estate dealer than Heine's former neighbor and thus became the famous poet? Let's meet there in a few more decades and see...
Other famous people buried in Montmartre Cemetery
Of course, it is not possible to cover all the important graves in one tour. For the benefit of those who wish to do some “homework” before the trip to the cemetery, here are other historical figures who are buried in this cemetery and about whom there is an article here on the site:
- Michel Berger – One of the greatest French pop artists of the 20th century. His wife France Gal, who became famous, among other things, for the song Ella elle la and died in 2018, is also buried in the same cemetery.
- Miracles of Camondo – One of the most beautiful museums in Paris is named after him (in my opinion, at least).
- Jeanne Moreau – A beloved actress, who became famous, among other things, thanks to a video of Truffaut, Jules, and Jim, which we talked about earlier.
- Ari Shefer – a great painter in my opinion but not so well known to the general public. You can enjoy his works atMuseum of Romantic Life.
- Charles Henri Sanson – a member of a family of executioners who was responsible for the execution of Louis XVI. You can read about him and his family in the article Sanson the HeroAlso, if you would like to find out where his family estate was located, you are welcome to visit the article. Square Montholon – a charming Parisian corner with a fascinating story.
Want to visit more cemeteries in Paris?
If this tour has “whet your appetite” and you want to visit more cemeteries in Paris, you are welcome to read the article. The Cemeteries of Paris If only the graves could talk…
Other articles about Montmartre that may interest you
Have you finished your visit to the Montmartre Cemetery and want to continue your journey? Here are some articles that may interest you:
- The Story of Montmartre – Tortured Saints, Prostitutes, and Artists – An in-depth article that will provide you with all the historical information you need for a tour of Montmartre.
- Montmartre of the great artists – This is a classic itinerary created by my dear friend Joel Tamanlis And which will allow you to see all the most important sites in Montmartre (especially those related to the artists who lived there, such as Picasso).
- Recommended bars in Paris, rooftops and other trendy places – Want to take a look at the Montmartre cemetery from above? Go to this article and you'll find a hotel from whose rooftop you can see a panoramic view of the cemetery and other parts of Paris.
- A historical, artistic and culinary itinerary in the Montmartre district of Paris – If you would like to get to know the culinary side of Montmartre (after all, trips to a cemetery can definitely make you hungry), you are welcome to read this article.
Hi Mr. Khazanov. The work "The Rite of Spring" mentioned in the article about the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky was written by Stravinsky, not Prokofiev as written.
Absolutely right. My mistake. I just corrected it.
You're right, you're wrong. I wrote my name: Gad Nathan...
My mistake. I fixed it.
Thanks for the interesting article.
Thank you very much 🙂