Père Lachaise – what do you need to know to travel there and stay alive?

There is no doubt that one of the greatest pleasures of a trip to Paris is to stroll In the gardens and parks of the City of Lights. However, there are other “gardens” in Paris that, along with the oak trees and benches, are also scattered with special statues that cannot be found in any other garden. These are the cemeteries of the City of Lights that have long since ceased to be places of sadness and mourning and have become tourist attractions that combine tranquility, beauty and, of course, lots of celebrities. And speaking of famous people, there is no cemetery in Paris with such a large number of celebrities per square meter as Père Lachaise.

Today we will tell the story of this special cemetery, but first I recommend you watch the following charming video:

Bring us celebrities or how Pere Leschaz became the famous cemetery in Paris

The cemetery is named after Father François de la Chaise (1624-1709), who was the father confessor of Louis XIVThe Lav de la Chaise was a mansion on the site of the cemetery today, built in 1682 and purchased by the City of Paris in 1804.

The cemetery was designed by architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart (1739-1813), and Napoleon was so pleased with the design of Père Lachaise that he asked him to design another cemetery, where the savings of many Parisians were buried. I am of course talking about the Paris Stock Exchange, which is located in2th District.

However, despite its architectural success, the Père Lachaise cemetery was a financial failure in its early days and failed to attract “customers.” There were two main reasons for this. The first reason was that for some unknown reason the church decided not to consecrate the cemetery grounds with holy water, which bothered quite a few religious people in Paris (the Jews were not bothered at all, and therefore to this day quite a few Jews and people of other religions are buried in Père Lachaise).

The second reason was its location in the poor and very unfashionable eastern part of Paris, which caused wealthy people who lived in western Paris to prefer to be buried in other cemeteries (for example, Passy, ​​which is in the 16th arrondissement).

The cemetery managers quickly realized that if people didn't want to be buried there, all the investment would go to waste, so they decided to use a marketing trick from the world of real estate. After all, every contractor knows that an excellent way to advertise the prestigious project they are building is by giving an apartment to a famous actor or at least a reality show guest, so why not do something similar with a cemetery?

Since no living celebrity agreed to be buried with them (certainly not before their time), the directors decided to obtain dead celebrities, since they were unlikely to show resistance to the “move” that was forced upon them. And so, with much ceremony and PR, the remains of Molière andLa Fontaine In Père Lachaise. They were joined in 1817 by the remains of Abelard and Heloise, the mythical pair of lovers from the Middle Ages.

And indeed the marketing trick worked. In 1806 the cemetery had 62 graves, in 1812 it already had 833 graves and in 1830 there were already 33,000 graves. As a result, the cemetery grew and expanded 5 times between the years 1824-1851 until it reached an area of ​​439,000 square meters and about 70,000 graves. Over the years, of course, quite a few celebrities were added to the cemetery, among them Edith Piaf , Oscar Wilde, Honore de Balzac, Jim Morrison and many others. Needless to say, Parisians (and those who aren't) love Père Lachaise!

Hiking route in Pere Lachaise

As mentioned, Père Lachaise is a very large cemetery and the number of famous people buried here or beautiful tombs worth seeing is enormous. Therefore, it is not possible to create a tour itinerary that will allow you to see everything (certainly not the first time).

However, you can't get away with nothing, so I've created a walking route for you that, in my opinion, allows you to see at least some of the most important or interesting graves in Père Lachaise. We'll start from the north side of the cemetery and head towards the center of the cemetery. To get to the starting point, take the lineMetro Number 3 and get off at Gambetta station.

Exit the metro station and walk down Avenue du Père Lachaise until you reach the entrance. Near the entrance to the cemetery you will find quite a few flower shops and next to them you can buy a map of Père Lachaise. It costs pennies and is definitely worth the money because with its help you may discover some graves that interest you and that are near the graves that will be mentioned in the tour.

So I hope you have a bottle of water, comfortable shoes, and a map of the garden because we are starting a hike.

Our trip map

So that you don't lose your way, I created a map for you on Google Maps. To open it, click on the image below.

As you will see on the map, there are two types of crosses that mark the various graves. A cross inside a burgundy circle represents graves that are on the route, while a cross inside a blue circle represents interesting graves that are not on the route but may be worth taking a little detour to reach them.

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was an Irishman and considered one of England's greatest poets and playwrights. However, following a homosexual relationship with the son of the Marquess of Queensbury, he was sentenced to several years of hard labor. In prison, his health deteriorated and he was released with a broken leg.

Because he did not want to stay in his homeland, he decided to move to Paris and there he died in a cheap hotel on November 30, 1900. Over the years, the cheap and shabby hotel became a luxury hotel with the pretentious name L'Hôtel. If you would like to live there, you are welcome to click on This link.

His grave is still considered one of the most popular graves in Père Lachaise, even though a few years ago someone broke the penis of the statue that stands on his grave (Oscar Wilde would probably have said, “What can I do, his dick is broken too”).

Victor Noir

And speaking of genitals (or at least a thick hint of them), we can't miss the next grave on our tour, which is Victor Noir's.

This is a relatively unknown man, a converted Jew, a failed writer who was shot to death by a relative of Napoleon III. Fortunately for him, some time after his death his body was moved to the Père Lachaise cemetery and Dalou, one of the great sculptors of the late 19th century, was chosen to build his tomb.

If you look closely at the photo, you will notice that a very specific part of it is simply brilliant. If you want to understand why, you are invited to read the article Victor Noir's erection.

Amedeo Modigliani

Paris wasn't exactly good for Modigliani's health. The Jewish-Italian artist arrived in the City of Lights and immediately began living like a rock star, drinking insane amounts of absinthe and using every drug he could find. All this, along with tuberculosis, brought him down with a bout of depression in 1920.

If you would like to read more about Modigliani, you are invited to read Dr. Orna Lieberman's in-depth article. Amedeo Modigliani and Chaim Soutine: The Last Bohemians of Montparnasse.

Edith Piaf

Not far from Modigliani's grave you will find the grave of Edith Piaf (1915-1963) Perhaps the best-known French singer of all time. She was born in Belleville, not far from the cemetery. Like Modigliani, she died too early from a combination of alcohol, drugs and liver cancer. So it is not surprising that her last words were “You pay for all the stupid things you have done in your life.”

If you would like to learn about the life of Edith Piaf, you are welcome to read the article. The men in Edith Piaf's life or check the The itinerary following Edith Piaf.

Wall of the condemned (Mur des Federes)

This is not a specific grave, but a mass grave. On May 28, 1871, Père Lachaise was the last battlefield of the Paris Commune. 147 members of the Commune were brought here, lined up against the wall, and shot by the army of the Third Republic. It was the culmination of “Bloody Week” (Le Semaine Sanglante), which ended with the liquidation of the Commune, which had been established a few months earlier.

Since that day, the place has become a symbol of the French left, so there's a good chance that when you visit there you'll see people laying red roses or some political rally of one of the left-wing parties (or what's left of it).

Jim Morrison

Perhaps the most popular grave in Père Lachaise, although his tombstone is not particularly beautiful. Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, arrived in Paris in 1971 and lived in the district. La MaraisOne day his body was found in the bathtub (he apparently died of an overdose) and since he died in Paris he was buried in Père Lachaise in one of the relatively remote areas.

Morrison's fans easily found the grave and even stole the headstone. This was the first and not the last time the headstone was vandalized, which is one of the reasons why the current headstone is made of plain stone and is missed by many tourists.

Abelard and Heloise

Remember in the historical introduction we talked about the celebrities whose bones were transferred to Père Lachaise in order to make people want to be buried there? So here's a great example. The tragic love story of Abelard and Heloise took place in the 12th century, and since then their bones have been transferred from place to place until, finally, they were laid to rest(?) in this cemetery in the early 19th century.

As you can see, this is a magnificent tomb in the neo-Gothic style, which has become a place of pilgrimage for lovers. If you would like to read a little more about Abelard and Heloise, you are welcome to take a look at the following articles:

• Abelard and Heloise – the great love story of the Middle Ages
• Abelard and Heloise: Love Letters That Survived Nearly a Thousand Years

End of the route

This is where my itinerary in Père Lachaise ends. Of course, it doesn't cover even a fraction of all the interesting tombs that can be found here. If you want to delve deeper and find more interesting tombs, then I highly recommend taking an organized tour of Père Lachaise. In the next chapter, you can read about some interesting options.

Other famous people buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery

Of course, it is not possible to cover all the important tombs in one tour, so for the benefit of those who wish to do their "homework" before the trip to the cemetery, here are other historical figures who are buried in Montparnasse and about whom there is an article here on the site:

• Jean-Charles Alphand – garden designer responsible for the appearance of Tuileries Gardens, Luxembourg Gardens וButt Shomon.
• Guillaume Apollinaire – one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. You can read his poems in the article French poetry translated into Hebrew.
• Alphonse Bertillon
• Fulgens Biancave – the engineer who built the Paris Metro.
• Jean-François Champollion – the man who succeeded in deciphering the Rosetta Stone and created the science of Egyptology. You can read about him in the article Paris – Ancient Egypt: A Love Story.
• Felix Fore – President France During the Dreyfus trial. You can read about his “interesting” death in the articleFrom the President's Fatal Lover.
• Théodore Géricault – a famous French painter, whose painting The Jellyfish Raft You can read it on the website.
• Henri Meunier – French chocolate maker, whose magnificent home you can read about in the article Hotel Henri Meunier – Paris’ Secret Chocolate Palace.
• Camille Pissarro  One of the greatest and most famous painters of the 19th century.
• Dominique Vivant Danon – the first director of The Louvre Museum.
• Maria Walewski – One of Napoleon's famous mistresses.

If you would like to see the full list of “celebrities” buried in Père Lachaise, you can find it atLink this.

Guided tours in French and English

The Francophile travels to Père Lachaise with Thierry Larois

As I wrote in the previous chapter, one of the biggest problems for anyone who wants to visit Père Lachaise is the sheer wealth of famous graves and just beautiful graves or those with special stories. There is no way that if you visit this cemetery once (or even dozens of times) you will be able to exhaust the wealth of stories it contains. That is exactly why you need Thierry Lareau!

I heard about Thierry Leroi from an anonymous Francophile friend who told me unequivocally that if I really wanted to discover Père Lachaise, I had to do it exclusively with Thierry. When I met him at the cemetery gate, I discovered an impressive man, dressed to the nines and with a great sense of humor. Exactly the ideal partner for a trip to a cemetery!

Thierry has been exploring the cemeteries of Paris for many years and knows almost every grave, whether it belongs to an unknown or a famous person. We walked among the graves for several hours and I discovered a man with incredible knowledge who is able to improvise routes among thousands of graves to suit the interests of those who walk with him.

Because I told the tourist that I was Israeli, he immediately took me to see the grave of the terrorist Mahmoud al-Mashari, one of those responsible for the massacre of Israeli athletes in Munich, who was eliminated by the Mossad in 1973. It turns out that al-Mashari's neighbor was none other than the famous Jewish writer Marcel Proust, and both had a black marble tombstone.

One day, some people tried to take revenge in memory of the survivors, but because they did not know Thierry Larue and did not consult with him, they accidentally blew up Proust's tombstone without any wrongdoing.

From there we continued along the paths of the great cemetery and arrived at famous graves such as that of Theodore Gericault Or that of Victor Noir But even less famous graves, each with a fascinating story to tell. Thierry went above and beyond and even brought me to two graves of people who are still alive but decided there was no point in waiting and it was worth preparing the apartment where they intend to sleep forever during their lifetime here.

The first one built himself a small pyramid that he sometimes went into for a few hours (you can guess the reaction of cemetery visitors when the pyramid door opens and the guy emerges). The second grave belongs to a photographer and contains a giant statue of his favorite camera and even a QR code that leads to a website that tells the story of his life.

After a few hours, I finished the trip with Thierry, with quite a few stories in my lap that I will tell in the future and admiration for the man who decided to dedicate his life to the story of the life of the dead. Needless to say, I highly recommend Thierry and you can book a trip through his website.

Looking for a guided tour of Père Lachaise in English?

Thierry Laroche is a simply wonderful guide, but his drawback is that all his tours are conducted in French. Want a guided tour of Père Lachaise with an English-speaking guide? Here are some not-so-bad options:

Tourist information (opening hours and directions)

Address

Entrance: Rue du Repos 16, 75020 Paris. Père Lachaise metro station lines 2 and 3.

ways of getting there

The best and fastest way to get to Père Lachaise is by metro. Here are the three options:

• Gambetta station – line 3.
• Pere Lachaise Station – Lines 2 and 3.
• Philippe Auguste Station – Line 2.

Opening days and hours

• Shabbat 08:30-17:30
• First 09:00-17:30
• The rest of the days 08:00-17:00

Have you finished walking in Père Lachaise and want to walk around the area?

I highly recommend the article. The secrets of the 20th arrondissement By Fanny Rothstein. The article contains a mostly culinary itinerary (I promise you, all the death of Pere Lachaise will make you hungry) and it starts not so far from the cemetery.

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…

Enjoy!