Millions of people enter the land of Père Lachaise in Paris each twelvemonth . Some of them never , ever leave .
It is , after all , one of the most famouscemeteriesin the world – and although it ’s strongly unite to death , Père Lachaise is perhaps better known for its great smasher and the unbelievable need for its few burial outer space .
Its ground hold tight some of the most celebrated citizenry ever to take the air the planet . As such – much like a VIP - only club – anybody who ’s anyone in Paris wants to be buried there . Yet , no matter how deepyour earthly bank bill might be , you still might not be able to mark a posthumous stain in this extremist - popular burying ground .
After all , Père Lachaise is no average burial site . Like the metropolis around it , it ’s a blend of immaculate cleanliness and senior dilapidation , legend and traditional knowledge .
" Established by Napoleon in 1804 , Père Lachaise is Paris ’s with child graveyard , consisting of more than 100 estate ( 40 hectare ) and over 1,000,000 internments , " says Keith Eggener , a prof at the University of Oregon who is do it in partfor his expertiseon graveyard architectural account . " Among those buried here are many renowned name , particularly author , mountain lion , musicians , thespian , and performers . "
The cemeterytakes its namefrom King Louis XIV ’s confessor , Father François d’Aix de La Chaise .
Thecemetery ’s illustrious listof lasting house physician includes Oscar Wilde , Gertrude Stein , Federic Chopin , Molière , Marcel Proust , Colette , Jacques - Louis David , Eugène Delacroix , Georges Seurat , Édith Piaf , Sarah Bernhardt , Isadora Duncan , Yves Montand and Marcel Marceau .
The First Landscape Cemetery
Eggener says that Père Lachaise is frequently called thefirst garden or landscape cemetery , base on the picturesque gardens built at many 18th - hundred English patrician land - houses , with irregular , winding way and a ostensibly random , naturalistic approach to plantings .
It ’s an approach that differ wildly from earlier burial ground .
" Père Lachaise help as a turning point between the old , overcrowded medieval churchyards , where body had been heap atop each other for centuries , and the new garden graveyard cause , " says authorLoren Rhoads , who has write extensively about cemeteries .
" When the cemetery was open in 1803 , it stood at the edge of Paris . It was immense compared to the churchyards . mob could purchase inhumation blank space where they could be sink together , as match to the churchyards , where each individual was buried as they come down and families were not only buried separately , but survivors had no estimation where in the churchyard their roll in the hay ones might lie . "
Rhoads points out that Père Lachaise was not forthwith popular , in part because it was so hard for hoi polloi to strain . But the new created necropolis would n’t die easily .
" The cemetery founding father settle they needed to have a gimmick to draw in in the paying client , so they find a body reputed to be Moliere ’s and lay to rest it with lots of fanfare , then reunify the mediaeval lovers Abelard and Heloise in a shared tomb , " she says .
Moliere , a great writer and worker , kick the bucket in 1673 , and remains known as one of the outstanding playwriters to ever live . Abelard and Heloisewere a whizz - pass over duad whose transcendent love letter enamored them to unnumerable people around the world .
What began in Paris did not stay in Paris .
Eggener suppose that Père Lachaise ’s informal layout was a major aspiration to U.S.-basedlandscape designersof the mid-19th century , admit those behind theRural Cemetery Movement , the first urban public ballpark , and the first elect suburban subdivisions .
A Memorial to the Arts
These days , Père Lachaise is a major tourist attraction , less of a burying ground and more of a museum . Nearly 4 million people confabulate these sacred ground every yr to witness its stateliness .
One of the most popular headstones is that of the Lizard King himself , Jim Morrison , the lead vocaliser of The Doors , who died in Paris at the old age of 27 in 1971 . His grave has been the depositary of countless trinkets ( legal and otherwise ) , and overeager fans have deplumate off bits of the expanse , admit nearby graves , as mementos of the poet - singer who was celebrated in part for penning a death - lace Sung dynasty titled – aptly – " The End . "
But for most of the masses who move into these grounds , Père Lachaise is n’t the end . Nor is it just a cemetery . It ’s a reflection of the Parisians who crafted and perfected its foxily fallible approach to the hereafter .
" One of the things I ’ve always found most challenging about the piazza is its distinctly urban quality – its named , sett streets dumbly trace with fiddling stone tomb - houses , its cast - iron street furniture , its division into neighborhoods , and even its socio - spatial separatism ( e.g. , separate areas for Christians , Muslims and Jews ) , " says Eggener .
He add up that , " A true burial ground , Père Lachaise is indeed the double , or the blow , of the living city that it serves . "
How to Visit Père Lachaise
Père Lachaise Cemeteryis turn up at 16 rue du Repos . The good way to get there is to take the No . 2 or No . 3 Métro production line ; get off at the Père - Lachaise stop and walk down the street – you ca n’t miss it .
The necropolis is open every day ( except major holiday ) , but hours diverge look on the 24-hour interval of the week and the clip of twelvemonth . There is no admission fee . mark thewebsitefor further information and update .
