Cimetière du Père-Lachaise (Père-Lachaise Cemetary), Paris
Tombs of Abelard and Héloïse (Irv Brendlinger); tomb of Chopin (Irv Brendlinger); general view of Père-Lachaise Cemetary (Craig Patik).
Situated on the eastern edge of the city, the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise (Father Lachaise Cemetary) is the most famous cemetery in Paris, and perhaps in all of Europe.
The cemetery is named after the Jesuit Father Lachaise, King Louis XIV's confessor, who led the reconstruction of the Jesuit Rest House completed here in 1682. The Père-Lachaise land, covering more than 109 acres, was acquired by the city of Paris in 1804 for use as a cemetery.
The rising ground, cobbled avenues and rows of trees give the place a romantic atmosphere in spite of the more 70,000 19th-century funeral monuments that dominate the landscape. Some are ostentatious, some are unsightly and dilapidated, some are lovely.
Many famous people are buried here at "the grandest address in Paris," including Musset, Chopin, Molière, Oscar Wilde, Delacroix, Balzac, and, most famously, Jim Morrison. Colette was taken here in 1954. Her black granite slab always sports flowers; legend has it that cats replenish the roses.
Monuments also honor Frenchmen who died in the Resistance or in Nazi concentration camps. In the southeast corner stands the Mur des Fédérés where the last communards were shot in 1871.
The most famous religious figures buried in Père-Lachaise are the unlucky lovers Héloïse and Abélard. Peter Abélard (1079-1142) was a brilliant and controversial philosopher and theologian who, at the age of 39, was hired as a private tutor to Héloïse, niece of Canon Fulbert of Paris.
The two fell in love, secretly had a son, and married. When Héloïse's uncle discovered this, he had the unfortunate Abélard castrated and sent Héloïse to a convent. The two rarely saw one another for the remainder of their lives, but exchanged soulful love letters that have become famous. Héloïse became an abbess and Abelard continued to write and stir up theological controversy.
Abelard spent the last two years of his life as a monk at the Abbey of Cluny. Upon his death in 1142, he was buried at Héloïse's convent at her request, and she was buried next to him upon her death two years later. The two were later moved to Père-Lachaise, where they lie next to each other in elaborate tombs.
Quick Facts
| Address: | 16 rue du Repos, 75020 Paris |
| Location: | Entrances on rue des Rondeaux, bd. de Ménilmontant, and rue de la Réunion |
| Neighborhood: | Pere Lachaise, 20e arrondissement |
| Phone: | 01 55 25 82 10 |
| Hours: | Mon-Fri 8-6, Sat 8:30-6, Sun 9-6; (5:30 in winter) |
| Metro: | Gambetta, Philippe-Auguste, or Père-Lachaise |
| Cost: | Free |
| Tours: | Two-hour, English-language tours are run on Saturday at 3pm Jun-Sep. |
| Tip: | Get a map; it's easy to get lost. Newsstands and kiosks on boulevard de Ménilmontant sell a detailed map, Plan Illustré du Père Lachaise. |
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More Information
- Pere-Lachaise – Official Website
- Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise - Fodors.com
- Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise - Frommer's
- Cimetière du Père Lachaise - Lonely Planet
- Paris in August: Like a Cemetery – Washington Post, August 18, 2002
- Life and Works of Peter Abelard – ReligionFacts.com
- Thomas Kselman, Death and the Afterlife in Modern France
