Père Lachaise is the largest cemetery in Paris and one of the most visited sites in the city. It is not, despite its reputation, primarily a place to hunt for famous graves. It is one of the most important collections of nineteenth and early twentieth-century funerary sculpture in Europe, spread across forty-four hectares of landscaped grounds on a hill in the 20th arrondissement.
Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust, Édith Piaf, Molière, Jim Morrison, Isadora Duncan, Georges Bizet, the list of those buried here is long and improbable. But the cemetery is also the site of the Mur des Fédérés, where the last Communards were shot in May 1871. That wall, and what it represents, is as important as any of the graves.
What you will see
The graves. A route shaped by your group's interests, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, whose tomb is now shielded by glass after years of lipstick kisses, Édith Piaf, Marcel Proust and others, set among the extraordinary range of nineteenth-century funerary sculpture, from neoclassical mausoleums to Art Nouveau.
The wider story. The Mur des Fédérés, the wall against which the last Communards were shot on 28 May 1871 and still a place of pilgrimage for the French left, and the design of the cemetery itself, laid out by Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart in 1804 as a romantic landscape garden of winding paths and planted avenues.
The famous graves · the funerary sculpture · the Mur des Fédérés
Pépin's advice
Wear comfortable shoes. The cemetery is hilly and the paths are uneven, with cobbled sections throughout. This is not the place for new shoes.
Come in autumn. Père Lachaise is extraordinary in autumn when the leaves are down. The light through the trees onto the stone is something specific to this season and this place.
Good to know
Père Lachaise is a vast working cemetery of forty-four hectares, and it is easy to lose your bearings among the avenues. A private guide keeps the route coherent and the timing relaxed, and we keep a respectful distance from any service taking place on the day.
