Paris - Pere Lachaise - 19e

Plate CXVII – Pere Lachaise …

It was to be my final day in Paris. Yet, there remained too many scenes I had, for various reasons, not photographed. Breakfasting in the hotel restaurant planning a whirlwind itinerary of missed locations, my colleague Robert from Aachen in Germany (a city, with a strong connection to France that I was later to visit) came in and joined me. He had a suggestion.

“Let’s go see some dead people.”

Robert it turned out was related to the surrealist artist Max Ernst, whose ashes are ensconced in the columbarium in Père Lachaise cemetery, and so had a personal reason for this suggestion. For me, it seemed somehow fitting that I should spend my last few hours in this city, my home for three wonderful weeks, visiting a noble cast of characters who in many ways made Paris all that it is. I had already discovered in an earlier visit to Athens how in touch and in tune one can feel with a place by visiting its cemeteries. It’s a link to the past - if you have never done this, try it and you’ll understand.

Père Lachaise is the largest of the city’s cemeteries, and arguably one of the most famous in the world. I would suggest it is also one of the most beautiful. The aging tombs, graves, crypts and mausoleums with their sculptures and memorial artefacts all set amongst the tree lined paths and gardens are inspiring. Entering at the Porte Gambetta allows the visitor to wander slowly down the slopes of the cemetery’s extensive grounds. Established by Napoleon in 1804 the graveyard is named after a Jesuit priest who had lived in the area, Père François de la Chaise confessor to Louis XIV. Initially unpopular and considered too far out of the city, the early ‘marketing’ of the site included the transference of the remains of Molière, of Jean de La Fontaine and notably in 1817 of those ill-fated lovers of French legend - Abélard and Héloïse. Within a few short years the burial ground was to contain the remains of thousands of Parisians.

Pere LachaiseMap -
Courtesy of Rough Guides

Amongst the many memorials and graves I visited were those of Colette, Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Rossini, Isadora Duncan, Sarah Bernhardt (so, I did ‘see’ her after all), Pissaro, Jacques-Louis David, Seurat, Lalique, Delacroix, Ingres, Gericault, Haussman, Proust, Guillotin (how could I not), and Modigliani. I stood at the gate of the crypt of the Macdonald* Family (Marechal Jacques) … and yes, we went to pay respects to Max Ernst. Each of these already was or had become a part of my Paris story. There were two more names I had to honour…

*I have mentioned before that Macdonald (not particularly well known as a French name) is also my family name.