Père Lachaise Cemetery

The cemetery of Père Lachaise opened in 1804[3] and takes its name from the confessor to Louis XIV, Père François de la Chaise (1624–1709), who lived in the Jesuit house rebuilt during 1682 on the site of the chapel. The property, situated on the hillside from which the king watched skirmishing between the armies of the Condé and Turenne during the Fronde, was bought by the city in 1804. Established as a cemetery by Napoleon during that year, plans were laid out by Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart; the property was later extended. Napoleon, who had been proclaimed Emperor by the Senate three days earlier, had declared during the Consulate that "Every citizen has the right to be buried regardless of race or religion".

After the closing of the Holy Innocents' Cemetery on 1 December 1780 and as the city graveyards of Paris filled, several new, large cemeteries, outside the precincts of the capital, replaced them: Montmartre Cemetery in the north, Père Lachaise in the east, and Montparnasse Cemetery in the south. Near the middle of the city is Passy Cemetery.[4]

The French officials approved the transformation of 17 hectares of Mont-Louis into the Cemetery of the East in 1803 and the work was given to neoclassical architect Alexandre-Theodore Brongniart. He used English-style gardens as inspiration, designing the cemetery with uneven paths adorned with diverse trees and plants and lined with carved graves. He anticipated various funerary monuments but only one was finally built: the grave of the Greffulhe family, in a refined neo-Gothic style.

At the time of its opening, the cemetery was considered to be situated too far from the city and attracted few funerals. Moreover, many Roman Catholics refused to have their graves in a place that had not been blessed by the Church. In 1804, the Père Lachaise contained only 13 graves. The next year there were 44 burials, with 49 during 1806, 62 during 1807 and 833 during 1812. Consequently, the administrators devised a marketing strategy to improve the cemetery's stature: in 1817, with great fanfare, they organized the transfer of the remains of Jean de La Fontaine and Molière to the new resting place. Then, in another great spectacle, the purported remains of Pierre Abélard and Héloïse d'Argenteuil were also transferred to the cemetery along with their monument's canopy made from fragments of the abbey of Nogent-sur-Seine. By tradition, lovers or lovelorn singles leave letters at the crypt in tribute to the couple or in hope of finding true love.

This strategy achieved its desired effect: people began clamoring to be buried among the famous citizens. Records show that the Père Lachaise contained more than 33,000 graves in 1830. Père Lachaise was expanded five times: in 1824, 1829, 1832, 1842 and 1850. At present, there are more than 1 million bodies buried there, and many more in the columbarium, which holds the remains of those who had requested cremation.[5]

The Communards' Wall (Mur des Fédérés), located within the cemetery, was the site where 147 Communards were executed by the French Army during the Semaine sanglante, "The Bloody Week", following the final battles between the Army and the Paris Commune.[6][7] The Commune soldiers had been captured in earlier battles by the French Army, were taken to the prisons of Mazas and la Roquette, where they were quickly tried by military courts and sentenced to death. They were then taken to Pere Lachaise, where they were lined up against the wall and shot, and buried in common graves.[8] the site is a traditional rallying point for members of the French political Left. Adolphe Thiers, the second elected President of France, and the first President of the French Third Republic, who led the suppression of the Commune, is also interred in the cemetery.

Where the former house of Père Lachaise stood, Alexandre-Theodore Brongniart envisioned an outstanding pyramid to be used by all Christian denominations. It was never constructed but the Parisian architect Etienne Hippolyte Godde began building a chapel in 1820. It was sanctified by the Catholic Church in 1834 and is supported by the basilique Notre-Dame du Perpetuel Secours.

In 1804, a law was passed which allowed the sharing of cemeteries between diverse religions. The Jewish enclosure in Père Lachaise opened on 18 February 1810 in the 7th division.[13] Enclosed by a wall, this part of the cemetery included a purification room and a pavilion for the caretaker.

From 1865 to 1887 the 87th division also served as the Jewish enclosure. After the revocation of segregation within cemeteries in 1881, the walls of the enclosure were destroyed, and the Jewish dead were buried in the 96th division.[13]

Some noteworthy individuals buried in the 19th century include the actress Rachel Felix, the first French rabbi, David Sintzheim, and Robles, Singer and Fould Rothschild.[14]

In 1856, a Muslim enclosure was opened in the 85th division – part of this section of the cemetery was newly acquired in the last extension in 1850. Work on the mosque started in 1855 based on the plans created by Marie-Gabriel Jolivet. The monument included a waiting room, a lavatorium intended for the purification of Muslims, and a counter for religious effects.[13]

The Muslim enclosure opened on 1 January 1857, making it the first Muslim cemetery in France.[15] Between 1856 and 1870, there were only 44 burials – 6 perpetual concessions, 7 temporary and 31 free of charge. The enclosure was reduced multiple times and in 1871, an unused part was dedicated to the Jewish religion.

The law of 14 November 1881 made segregation in cemeteries illegal.[16] The fence of the enclosure was removed but the plant hedge was preserved. Despite the law, the mosque was conserved but the Ottoman Empire, responsible for maintenance, lapsed in their responsibility. Plans for reconstruction were made, but during WWI, when the Ottomans became an ally to Germany and an enemy to France, those plans were cancelled. The mosque was destroyed in 1914 and a plan for reconstruction was abandoned in 1923 in lieu of the project to build the Grand Mosque of Paris.[17]

Monument aux morts, behind lies the ossuary

Behind the Aux Morts (To the Dead) monument sculpted by Paul-Albert Bartholomé lies an ossuary of the bones of Parisians from cemeteries all over the city, a smaller kind of modern-day catacombs. Although the monument is well known, it is not general knowledge that it is also an ossuary, and its doors usually remain closed and locked to the public. When it became overcrowded recently, the bones were removed for cremation and returned to the ossuary after the incineration process. In the Père Lachaise ossuary, efforts are made to store bones and ashes in separate boxes.[18]

• 1960: Oscar Wilde – 1960 film. The ending credits roll over a shot of the poet's tomb.
• 1979: French Postcards – Laura visits Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, Isadora Duncan, and Édith Piaf burial sites.
• 1991: The Doors by Oliver Stone – biographical film of Jim Morrison which includes various snapshots of the tombs of those buried in Père Lachaise, such as Georges Bizet, Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust. Like Morrison, a poet and singer, the tombs shown are all people of the arts, mainly music, literature and poetry.
• 2001: Amélie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet – images of the burial of Sarah Bernhardt with music from Samuel Barber
• 2006: Paris, I Love You by Wes Craven – segment about the 20th arrondissement, a couple is strolling through the cemetery where the woman is trying to find Oscar Wilde's tomb
• 2007: Two Days in Paris by Julie Delpy – scene where Marion is leaning on Jim Morrison's tomb
• 2009: Oscar and Jim short film set entirely in the cemetery
• 2012: Holy Motors by Leos Carax – Monsieur Merde kidnaps Kay M, a model, from a photo shoot in the cemetery
• 2016: Elle by Paul Verhoeven – the final scene takes place at the columbarium of the cemetery where Michele is seen in front of her parents' urn
• 2018: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald by David Yates – Grindelwald convenes his followers at Père Lachaise towards the end of the film.[23]
• 2020: Dil Bechara – Kizie Basu proposes Manny before returning to India.

• 2000: Relic Hunter – Season 1, Episode 22 "Memories of Montmartre" – A tiara known as the Heart of Europe, the relic being sought in the episode, is hidden in vault A317 in Père Lachaise.
• 2021: Emily in Paris – Season 2, Episode 3 "Bon Anniversaire!" – Luc takes Emily to the grave of Honore de Balzac to tell her a story.
• 2022: Family Guy – Season 21, Episode 7 "The Stewaway" – Stewie goes to the look for the grave of Marcel Proust after getting lost in Paris at night.
• 2023: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - Season 1, episode 3 - Daryl Dixon traverses through the cemetery and points out Jim Morrison's grave.[24]

• 1833: Ferragus by Balzac – description of cemetery
• 1834: Le Père Goriot by Balzac – the Père Goriot is buried in Père Lachaise
• 1844: Le comte de Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – M. de Villefort "...considered the cemetery of Père Lachaise alone worthy of receiving the mortal remains of a Parisian family..." and intended to bury his believed-deceased daughter Valentine there.
• 1862: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo – Jean Valjean is buried in Père Lachaise
• 1869: Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert – description of cemetery

• 2015: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt by CD Projekt – in the expansion Blood and Wine, a cemetery by the name "Mère-Lachaiselongue" is used to pay homage to the Père Lachaise cemetery. The Blood and Wine expansion is set in Toussaint, a French-inspired region.

• 2020: Mon Ami by David Eustace - Photographic portfolio created at Père Lachaise Cemetery with artist Douglas Gordon. Exhibited at The Signet Library in 2023.