One of the things I love about France is the sense of tradition here. On All Saints Day, Toussaint, not only is it a national holiday and all the kids are out of school for two weeks, but most families who are nearby go to the cemeteries and visit their relatives' graves.
I used to have a wonderful book called Permanent Parisians, about the famous people in Paris cemeteries. The book has disappeared but it got us out visiting the cemeteries. Our first expedition was to the granddaddy of all Paris cemeteries, Père Lachaise. We bought two bouquets of flowers and headed out on a crisp Toussaint morning to explore.
The cemetery is on the side of the hill of Ménilmontant, in the east of Paris, and slopes gently downhill among trees. It's so huge that you have to pick which area to go to. And don't think you can picnic at Jim Morrison's grave!
Oscar Wilde was easy to find, and his tomb was striking (although a certain part of the statue's anatomy was missing). At Edith Piaf's grave, there was actually a queue of people lining up to pay their respects. I saw the tomb of Molière (at the time, actors were considered immoral and their bodies were normally thrown into a common grave; the Sun King had to intervene in person to spare Molière this fate, and even then he had to be buried secretly by night). The cemetery was a beautiful, peaceful place and it seemed as if around every corner was another well-known person. I put some flowers on Richard Wright's grave (which disappointingly was a small plaque on the wall of a mausoleum, rather than in the ground) and tried in vain to find Héloïse and Abélard.
Our first visit was so satisfactory, combining nature and culture, that we made an annual habit of it. Usually we buy chrysanthemums, which in France are so strictly cemetery flowers that one never gives them as a gift. Each person gets a ration of flowers, to avoid arguments about whose défunt is worthier. When all the flowers are gone, we go to a café.
Père Lachaise is certainly the most classic Paris cemetery, but the other day I went to the one above Trocadero, the Passy cemetery, whose high masonry wall forms one side of the place. Even though I live much closer to it, I had never been inside, but one of my visitors was a passionate music buff and insisted on going to see the graves of Fauré and Debussy after a lunch in the neighborhood.
The Passy cemetery was quiet and lovely and it was easy to forget that the city lay just outside. We walked around and finally I asked a caretaker where Debussy was, and he waved his arm in the right direction. As my friend wandered away, I spotted a man with a map and went over to ask him.
"Come, I'll show you," he said, and led me to a modern-looking glossy black tomb. On the stone in gold letters were the words Claude Debussy, with no other mark. But someone had set a block with a poem onto one corner of the grave. It began, "Monsieur Debussy, what would have my life been without you?"
"Are you a musician?" I asked the man. His eyes lit up.
"Yes, and you too, certainly?" Then he told me of visiting the house of a famous musician who had died-- Ravel? and how the woman who now lived there had insisted that he play the piano. (That reminded me of the story of Beethoven's house, where one of the composer's pianos still stands. An American GI came in, sat down and started to play something like "Chopsticks" on it before being asked to stop. "I suppose everyone tries to play?" the soldier asked. "No," said the caretaker coldly. "Artur Rubinstein was here and said he could not presume to touch it.")
This cemetery seemed more multicultural than the Père Lachaise.
Bảo Đại, last emperor of Vietnam
The wife and daughter of the Shah of Iran [Update: Philippe points out that this is actually the mother and the daughter of the shah. The shah's wife is still alive.]
Mostafa Ahkavan
Manfred Schapiro of the Free French, Military Medal, and Legion of Honor, d. 2003; and Isaac, Anna and Aline Schapiro who disappeared in 1942
Ridgway and Fitzjames
Madrenas y Satorres
The father and son both died in World War I
Lovely.
Posted by: Le Meg | 01 November 2006 at 10:15
Hi Sedulia !
Montparnasse Cemetery is worth a visit, too, in Amerloque's view ... http://tinyurl.com/yyfosb
Those interested in Russian civilization might find it of interest to visit the Russian cemetery in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, outside of Paris. There are something on the order of 10,000 Russians buried there; many of them are from the emigré community which flourished in the 1920s. Amerloque took an American friend of Russian extraction and his Russian-born spouse out there recently (last year) … The website is in French. http://tinyurl.com/kr6dk
Best,
L'Amerloque
Posted by: L'Amerloque | 01 November 2006 at 10:31
Beautiful and evocative. Thanks!
The city of Paris is sponsoring guided walks through all of the cemeteries this month -- I'm bummed that can't make Pere Lachaise visit today. Here's the link: www.jardins.paris.fr
Posted by: Polly | 01 November 2006 at 13:07
farah diba is still alive
here's her official site:
http://www.farahpahlavi.org/
it is the tomb of the empress' mother, and her daughter
From Sedulia: Thanks Philippe. I'll add a note.
Posted by: philippe | 01 November 2006 at 16:23
I was at Pere Lachaise today. Let me know the next time you return and I will show you Heloise and Abelard. It is actually just down the hill from Jim Morrison, who I can't believe is so visited.
Posted by: Linda | 01 November 2006 at 21:14
wonderful and informative, thanks
Posted by: lili | 01 September 2007 at 09:45
i am doing a project in French class on All Saints Day and these pictures were an amazing help to me! thanks so so much!
Posted by: Gianna | 04 November 2008 at 15:20