Grave Matters

Question: What historic figure established Père Lachaise in the outskirts of Paris in 1804, the first garden cemetery in the Western world?

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

With so many iconic treasures huddled together in central Paris, do you really want to journey outside the city limits to visit—a cemetery? Well, you should, because Père Lachaise is no ordinary cemetery. Established in 1804 as part of Napoleon Bonaparte’s reforms to relocate cemeteries outside the crowded city, Père Lachaise is one of the most hauntingly beautiful burial grounds in the world. You could say that no visit to the City of Light is complete until you’ve seen the City of the Dead.

Because graveyards in Paris had been out of space for centuries, most bodies prior to Père Lachaise were buried in mass graves, creating unsanitary conditions and a horrible stench. Things got worse after a wall collapsed from the weight of dead bodies next to the city’s largest burial site, Les Innocents Cemetery (Cimetière des Saints-Innocents), when decomposing remains spilled into the streets. Even with graveyards literally overflowing, poisoning the water supplies and causing deadly epidemics, churches still resisted the creation of new burial grounds outside the city—since they owned the graveyards and profited from burial fees. Never one to shy from confrontation, Napoleon decided to act.

One of the four sites purchased by Napoleon’s government earmarked for cemetery plots was a hillside property once occupied by Father François de La Chaise d’Aix, the priest confessor of the popular Sun King, Louis XIV. The thinking was that Père Lachaise would make a great name for the new cemetery because Parisians would assume it was built on consecrated ground (blessed by the Catholic Church)—which it was not. Napoleon actually broke with tradition by establishing Père Lachaise as a non-sectarian cemetery and issued a decree stating that "every citizen has the right to be buried regardless of race or religion."

Designed to evoke the tranquility and beauty of an English garden and meant to be everything that the squalid church graveyards were not, Père Lachaise opened to great fanfare on May 21, 1804. But it soon became apparent that while people were dying in the same numbers as they always had in Paris, none of them wanted to be buried at Père Lachaise. It was just too remote a location, plus it was built on a hill which made it even more difficult for family and friends to pay their respects.

Père Lachaise—it was not a graveyard smash

Since there is nothing worse for a new cemetery than a lack of bodies to bury, they would have to find some. First, a handful of carefully chosen “famous dead people” were relocated to Père Lachaise, including Héloise and Abélard, two star-crossed lovers from the 12th century whose story was the rage of Paris at the time. Then they brought in a couple of 17th century literary greats, the playwright/actor Molière and poet La Fontaine. As a bonus to satisfy those who aspired to spend the afterlife near royalty, they found space for Louise de Lorraine, wife of King Henry III.

An elaborate publicity campaign was launched to promote the cemetery’s newest “residents,” which worked brilliantly. Demand for space would soon skyrocket.

I see dead people—very famous dead people

By 1817, Père Lachaise was the cemetery of choice for the crème de la crème of Parisian society—luminaries from the worlds of art, design, literature, science, the performing arts, and more—along with ordinary Parisians with enough wealth to afford one of increasingly coveted plots. Just a small selection of the renowned names who chose Père Lachaise as their final resting place includes Sarah Bernhardt, Frédéric Chopin, Eugène Delacroix, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, and on and on.

But what brings the real sense of awe to Père Lachaise are the statuary, crypts, and mausoleums, which were all created by the leading artisans of the day. It is like strolling through an open-air museum of two centuries of art and architectural history scattered through 100 acres of landscaped grounds—which are also home to a surprising amount of wildlife, from tawny owls to foxes that can occasionally be seen dozing on the graves.

For two centuries, the bucolic setting of Père Lachaise has attracted local Parisians seeking a quiet respite from the bustle of the city. One noted visitor was Honoré de Balzac. “I rarely go out,” the 19th-century novelist wrote, “but when I do wander, I go to cheer myself up in Père Lachaise ... while seeking out the dead I see nothing but the living.” Not anymore, of course. Balzac lives here permanently and has plenty of company—more than three million people stop by Père Lachaise each year, making it the most visited burial ground in the world.

Somehow adding to its allure are the stunning number of fascinating stories and scandals associated with Père Lachaise over its two-century history—enough to make your head spin like that scene from The Exorcist. Here are just a couple to give you an idea…

As far as scandals at Père Lachaise go, this one is pretty Wilde

It’s fitting that one of the scandals concerns the memorial tomb of Irish-born poet, novelist, and playwright Oscar Wilde. No stranger to controversy himself, Wilde was both celebrated and vilified right up to his death at age 46 in a Paris hotel room in 1900.

Wilde, who died penniless, was buried in a modest grave purchased by some friends. Several years later, money was raised to purchase a plot at Père Lachaise, with the noted British sculptor Jacob Epstein commissioned to design and carve Wilde’s tomb. But when the sculptor’s 20-ton naked angel was transported to Père Lachaise in 1912, the cemetery director took one look at it and threw a tarpaulin to hide it from public eyes. The problem? Epstein’s mythological winged figure with a human face included two prominent testicles in the usual location. Deemed too scandalous for the times, the tarpaulin remained in place for the next two years. Finally in 1914, against the wishes of Epstein, a decision was made to cover up the offensive area with a bronze plaque, and the statue was unveiled to the public for the first time. Was that the end of it? Not even close.

A new controversy erupted in 1961 when it was discovered that the stone testicles adorning the monument were gone. Whether they were knocked loose and stolen by morally indignant thieves or simply destroyed by inebriated visitors is unknown. One rumor even speculated that the stolen items had actually been recovered and were being used as paperweights in the office of the cemetery’s caretaker.

Whatever the case, the genital-free Wilde statue remained a contentious presence. For years, visitors had been leaving notes, love letters, and flowers at Wilde’s monument to express their admiration for his life and works. But in the 1990s, after one amorous fan planted a giant lipstick kiss on the tomb, thousands of Wilde admirers followed suit. The lipstick was doing serious damage to the limestone tomb, so cemetery officials introduced steep fines to anyone continuing the practice. The trend continued unabated, so in 2011 a glass barricade was erected around the monument to protect Wilde’s statue from further damage.

Sadly, the testicles have never been recovered.

It’s purely coincidental that another fascinating tale from Père Lachaise revolves around an intimate area of the body.

Ay, there’s the rub

Not a particularly well-known journalist in life, Victor Noir became quite famous following his death for two reasons. The first was that he was killed by a cousin of Napoleon Bonaparte III. But his real fame started with the life-sized sculpture accompanying his grave—which, for reasons known only to the artist who created it—features a rather prominent bulge in Noir’s pants. Not surprisingly, an urban legend quickly grew that any woman who kisses the lips of the statue and rubs the bulge will be blessed with fertility and a rewarding sex life. The obvious weathered sheen around the statue’s lips and “bulge” are proof enough that millions of visitors took the legend seriously (and may even explain the slight smile on Noir’s face).

Noir’s reputation as a lover grew stronger after a short piece appeared in American newspapers in 1962. Going on about the “dashing Victor Noir,” the article said: “Where except in Paris will you find a fresh boutonniere placed daily in the lapel of a life-size stature of a romantic figure of a century ago?” Meanwhile, Noir’s reputation in life was the furthest thing from a lady killer. And his statue is just a recreation how Noir was found splayed on the ground, the victim of a homicide.

Nevertheless, during the 1970s his reputation got even more absurd. The London papers referred to him as “a handsome young journalist” with an “unrivalled reputation as a Don Juan.” His statue, they wrote, was carved “with regard for his amorous reputation, showing him in a state of some undress and leaving nothing whatever to the imagination of love-hungry Parisiennes.” Talk about your fake news.

And speaking about those with a reputation with the ladies (authentic in this case), we should mention Jim Morrison, one of the most popular gravesites at Père Lachaise.

We thought the doors were closed to foreigners—how did Jim Morrison get in?

Père Lachaise may seem like an unusual resting place for the American frontman of The Doors, Jim Morrison. But if you die in Paris, you can be buried here. When Morrison moved to Paris in 1971, it was with the intention of sobering up and getting serious about his poetry and writing. Paris may be a great place to inspire creativity, but for sobriety? Not so much. Morrison spent several months of living under a pseudonym and did manage to churn out copious amounts of prose, but he also managed to ingest copious amounts of drugs, resulting in his premature death by overdose/heart attack at age 27.

Because Morrison expressed a desire to be buried in Père Lachaise, his girlfriend purchased a small plot in a secluded corner of the cemetery after his death. His grave was purposely left unmarked until the cemetery placed a simple marker on the site—which was immediately stolen. The same thing happened after a bust of Morrison was added to the site. Protective railings now circle the grave, but because of the number of unmentionable things done to—or on—the singer’s grave by adoring fans, a security guard was hired to keep things from getting too out of control. All manner of gifts continue to be routinely left at the gravesite each day, including full bottles of Jim Beam. Morrison’s bust was replaced by a simple flat stone with the inscription “according to his own daemon” in Greek. Oh, and it wasn’t Morrison’s musical legacy that got him into Père Lachaise, it was his writing.

They’re still dying to get into Père Lachaise

While Père Lachaise does still welcome permanent residents, good luck getting in. For a variety of technical reasons relating to how you define “in perpetuity,” a limited number of spaces do become available each year, which are offered to prospective buyers by lottery. But if you are able to snag a cherished spot at Père Lachaise as your final resting place, you’re likely to echo the sentiments of the early 20th century poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who was so happy to secure his spot he had the following message inscribed on his tombstone: Je peux mourir en souriant, which translates to “I can die with a smile on my face”.

A few more fascinating facts about Père Lachaise

• Tall tales—When people think of Napoleon, what’s the first thing that pops in your mind? Instead of Père Lachaise, it’s probably that he was short. After all, his nickname was Le Petit Caporal (The Little Corporal), right? But that nickname had nothing to do with Napoleon’s stature, it was intended as a term of affection by his soldiers. But he could never shake the pesky rumor, which took off when the British press referred to him as the “wee emperor” and “Little Boney.” While Napoleon was never going to play pro hoops, he certainly wasn’t short. He was of average height.
• A little too close to home?—The cemetery itself was the scene of armed fighting twice during its history. In 1814, during the Napoleonic Wars, it was overrun by Russians in the Battle of Paris. And in May 1871, during the turmoil of the Paris Commune, 147 Communards were slaughtered on the grounds of Père Lachaise.
• “Bring out your dead!”—The cemetery’s main aisle features a monumental sculpture called Aux Morts (To the Dead). Created by artist Paul-Albert Bartholomé as a tribute to his wife, the monument consists of a mournful procession of twenty men, women, and children marching toward a dark doorway into the next life. The site also serves as an ossuary that contains the remains of many thousands of Parisians.
• Memento mori—The carved medallions topping the two central gates at the cemetery’s main entrance are the classic funerary symbols of the torch and hourglass. The torch represents life’s flame, and the hourglass, which symbolizes the passage of time, reminds us to spend our brief time on Earth wisely.
• The devil’s in the details—Napoleon and the city of Paris discourage the use of skulls or other imagery of death on the gravestones at Père Lachaise. Their goal was to replace Christian-based imagery of macabre sadness with a more peaceful concept of eternal rest. It makes sense when you think about it, since an early interpretation of the word cimetière was “a place where one sleeps.” That’s why there are so many winged cherubs instead of death’s heads on the graves at Père Lachaise.
• Is she moaning or mourning?—Statues of women in the 18th century often symbolize the seven virtues: prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, faith, hope, and charity. Statues of winged women at Père Lachaise symbolize hope, and nursing mothers represent charity. But the cemetery also has many scantily clad female figures. Because family members were often unaware of the sculptural commission, they were sometimes shocked to arrive at a gravesite and finding a half-naked figure that appeared to be in erotic rapture. One can almost picture an outraged father screaming: “Hey, that’s my daughter!"
• All-in-one architecture—No expense was spared in the design and creation of the grounds and monuments of Père Lachaise, which was a revolutionary concept in memorial parks—and served as a model for many early 19th century U.S. and European cemeteries. With the statuary, crypts, and mausoleums designed by the leading artisans of the day, Père Lachaise represents an encyclopedic grouping of artistic periods—from Gothic, Romanesque, Neoclassical and Italian Renaissance to Egyptian revival, Art Nouveau, and more.
• I left my heart in...—The great pianist Frederick Chopin is one of the notable luminaries buried at Père Lachaise. He had such a fear of being buried alive, however, that he wanted to have his heart removed before they buried him—just in case he woke up while six feet under. After he passed, Chopin’s eldest sister honored his request and had his heart removed, then smuggled it back to Poland in a jar of booze, and had it buried beneath a small monument at the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw.
• A head of his time—One of the more unusual tombs at Père Lachaise is that of a minor actor/musician named Fernand Arbelot. His epitaph reads, “They were amazed at the beautiful journey which led them to the end of life.” The sculpture at his tomb depicts Arbelot lying on his back, holding up a disembodied head and gazing into its cold, stone eyes. Some have speculated that Arbelot wanted this tomb design so that he could gaze upon his wife’s beautiful face for all eternity. But others think there’s something fishy about the scenario, and believe Arbelot sped up the whole process by killing his wife before taking his own life in a murder-suicide. Not as romantic, if you ask us.

Explore the ghoulish history of Paris and its notorious former residents on a departure of The Seine: Paris & the Heart of Normandy.