Morbid or Not? Finding Inpiration in the Cemeteries of Paris

January 18, 2013  by Linda Donahue

Père Lachaise

In Paris, walking in the paths of the dead isn’t the morbid pursuit it might be considered back home in the U.S. After all, American cemeteries tend to be row after row of simple headstones, often surrounding rather basic marble mausoleums. There is nothing to marvel at in these places.

Père Lachaise

Paris cemeteries, on the other hand, welcome the living, perhaps even more so than their deceased counterparts. From the hillside of Montmartre to the bustle of Montparnasse and the sprawling tranquility of Père Lachaise, the final resting places of those both famous and ordinary are at once outdoor museum and serene parkland. Continue Reading »

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Cemeteries of Paris: Where the French Lay Their Heads

December 29, 2009  by Haven in Paris

Pere Lachaise  - didiergauducheau.com

Text by Simone Blaser

It has to be said.  There is only a smattering of spots in Paris that have attracted the crème de la crème of French society as steadily and as constantly as the Parisian cemeteries. Cimetière Montmartre, Montparnasse, and Père Lachaise all boast a “who’s who” of French history.

How different it feels to be in a French cemetery!  None of the sterility, none of the rows neat like lines of crops, less of the impending doom of the American graveyard.  In Paris, cemeteries are like outdoor museums filled with the sculpture-graves of the wealthy and important, myriad unknowns, and of course, intellectual artistic superstars.
Continue Reading »

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