Paris | Walk among the dead

Because that's exactly what you want to do when in Paris! ;) Well, it might sound morbid, but it is quite popular. The Père Lachaise cemetery is the biggest cemetery in Paris and also the most visited cemetery in the world.

Why is this place ‘so popular’?

The Père Lachaise is well decorated and it resembles to an amazing garden with impressive above ground mausoleums. So, it becomes something like a visit to a museum, because walking through the alleys of Père Lachaise is like walking through history and art.

It is the final resting place of many famous people like: Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Honore de Balzac, Georges Bizet, Frédéric Chopin, Molière, Marcel Proust, Sarah Bernhardt, Edith Piaf, Eugène Delacroix, Theodore Géricault and others.

In 1804, the first person was buried at Père Lachaise. However, back then the place was not popular, because of the location (poor and low class area). The things changed when the bodies of French playwright Molière and fabulist Jean de la Fontaine are transferred to Père Lachaise in 1817. The cemetery is now 439,300m², with a total of 70,000 graves, 5300 trees and 100 cats!

Jim Morrison's grave

What to know?

Guided tours can be booked via the internet.

The cemetery is divided into 97 divisions and that is why at the entrances there are maps pointing visitors towards the most famous graves. 

It is better to access the cemetery not from the main entrance, but from the northeastern entrance, because there is less uphill walking.   

A & J

Credits: parisianist.com