Check out Paris’ largest cemetery, the most visited cemetery in the world.
The most visited cemetery in the world happens to be in Paris, France. There is no question why. It’s gorgeous and unique, filled to brim with mausoleums and simple tombs. It can take hours to fully explore this wonder.
Just look at this amazingness.
Père Lachaise was founded in 1804 by Napoleon Bonaparte himself. There are many tombs here from that era, even featuring Napoleon himself.
That’s Napoleon in the center of that freeze at the bottom of the tomb.
It took a while for the cemetery to start getting business. At the time, it was too far from the city. It also didn’t help that it was a city cemetery open to all and not a Catholic one. Many Catholics refused to be buried in a non-consecrated cemetery. To increase patronage, they started moving famous peoples’ burials to the cemetery, including Pierre Abélard and Heloise d’Argenteuil, who were famous for their medieval love letters.
Abelard and Heloise’s canopied tomb. While not allowed to be together in life, they finally are together in death.
Their tomb looks appropriately medieval.
People finally started pouring in. The cemetery had to expanded five times to contain the new arrivals. Today, there are more than 1 million bodies buried here and that doesn’t even count the cremated ones, which could be between 2-3 million people.
They are really piled in here, but this is kind of normal in Europe.
The cemetery is still operational, but there is a huge waiting list, and you have to die in Paris. The graves range from simple to towering monuments and mini chapels. Like many European cemeteries, multiple family members are buried under the same tomb. Some tombs contain dozens of bodies, stacked on top of each other.
Since the cemetery is absolutely huge, I was only able to explore a small portion. This is what I found.
This is the main boulevard at the entrance. Even this is lined with mausoleums.
This is near the walls of the cemetery. It’s so nice and orderly, which means it’s probably more modern.
One of many “side streets.” This one is a bit more open than some.
This side street is slowly closing in as it goes along.
And this is why I like to go to cemeteries in the fall.
Getting a little haphazard here.
A curved side street next to a hill. I love the steps up to the tombs. That’s mostly so they can stick more people underneath but it sure is pretty.
There is a hill in the center of the cemetery, which is part of the original. The tombs are terraced here, and it is really neat.
Now for some tombs and mausoleums. This is typical of the mini chapels. The family can go in and pray and the bodies are underneath.
This one looks like a mini-Gothic church.
Napoleon wanted a cemetery that anyone can be buried in no matter what race or religion. Here is an example of a Jewish tomb.
I’m not sure what is going on here, but that stela is either Aztec or Mayan. From what I can make out from the plaque, this person was an archaeologist or professor.
Many crying ladies can be found here.
This tomb has two.
I love the detail on this and the guys’ period dress.
Roman temple anyone?
One of the biggest tombs I saw was this one belonging to Casimir Perier (1777-1832), who really supported Louis-Philippe I’s monarchy.
Père Lachaise cemetery is located not far from the city center and is easy to get to by metro. It’s a nice place to go for a stroll, especially for a budget traveler since its Free! There are also a bunch of famous people buried here as well. So, take an afternoon and explore this fabulous cemetery yourself.
Check out another famous Parisian tomb, that of Napoleon himself!
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Check out all my other posts in my Wandering series!
I can see why its so popular. It’s stunning! If I find myself in Paris, this will be on my list.