{"id":25666,"date":"2018-07-07T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2018-07-07T13:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomadicmatt.com\/?p=25666"},"modified":"2024-12-19T13:02:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T18:02:46","slug":"pere-lachaise-cemetery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomadicmatt.com\/travel-blogs\/pere-lachaise-cemetery\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking Among the Dead at P\u00e8re Lachaise Cemetery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mausoleums<\/p>\n

Death is not the end for the residents of P\u00e8re Lachaise. Their tombs and graves are gawked at every day by hundreds of camera-touting tourists seeking the cemetery’s famous and not-so-famous inhabitants.<\/p>\n

The cemetery was built in 1804 as Paris<\/a> ran out of room for new graves within its limits. It was named after Louis XIV\u2019s confessor, P\u00e8re Fran\u00e7ois de la Chaise (1624\u20131709), who lived in a house near the cemetery land.<\/p>\n

At the time, the locals considered the cemetery too far from the city. P\u00e8re Lachaise only had 13 graves its first year. However, administrators devised a plan and, with great fanfare, transferred the remains of Jean de La Fontaine (fabulist) and Moli\u00e8re (playwright), two of Paris\u2019s most famous artists, to P\u00e8re Lachaise, hoping that people would want to be buried near France’s famous heroes. <\/p>\n

The strategy worked and people clamored to be interred with the cemetery\u2019s famous new residents. Today, there are over a million people buried here and it’s still an active cemetery (to be buried here, you have to have lived or died in Paris). At 44 hectares (110 acres), it’s also Paris’s largest green space. <\/p>\n

Though I’d been before, I woke up on a bright beautiful day and headed to the cemetery to show my friends the graves, mausoleums, and sepulchers of the dead. While a rainy day may have been more \u00e0 propos<\/em>, I welcomed the sun as we lacked an umbrella.<\/p>\n

\"grand<\/p>\n

Humans have always had a fascination with death;\u00a0we’ve been writing, singing, and pondering about it for ages. We dedicate much of our lives to thinking about the eternal question: \u201cWhat comes next?\u201d So, it doesn\u2019t surprise me that cemeteries become tourist attractions. (With over 3.5 million visitors each year, P\u00e8re Lachaise is the most visited cemetery in the world.)<\/p>\n

To me, walking among the dead is both uncomfortable and interesting.<\/p>\n

I tend to feel uncomfortable because I think, \u201cHere we are, gawking at the graves of the dead like they\u2019re some museum exhibit to be ogled.\u201d The dead become a sideshow as people exclaim, \u201cHey look, I have a picture of Jim Morrison\u2019s grave! Yay!\u201d <\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s because we want to get close to the famous people we could never get close to in life. I don’t know, but whatever the reason, as I snap a dozen photos of \u00c9dith Piaf’s grave, I know I\u2019m guilty of it, too.<\/p>\n

\"Weathered<\/p>\n

But more than being uncomfortable, I\u2019m always interested in the people around me. Who were they? What lives did they lead? Were they happy? Sad? Were they loved, lost souls, artists, hypochondriacs? I like to imagine them going through the ups and downs of life we all face or being witnesses to a historical event we now dissect in history books.<\/p>\n

What was it like for them? Will someone a hundred years hence ponder over my grave and go “I wonder who this guy was.” How quickly will it be before the world’s memory forgets me?<\/p>\n

As you move through the cemetery, it\u2019s easy to get lost among the giant crypts and trees. Covering 110 acres, the cemetery rises along a hill, with the older center a mishmash of winding streets and long-worn-out names and the newer tombs laid out in perfect city blocks. The moss-covered tombs and tree-lined cobblestone streets hide the sounds of the city. All that remains are your footsteps and the squawks from crows who remind you that on this day of life, death is all around.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

\"Beautiful<\/p>\n

Most visitors are drawn to the cemetery by the famous people buried here:\u00a0<\/p>\n