Père Lachaise Cemetery, a history of two graves….

By Kitty Lapin Agile on September 21, 2012 • ( 2 )

One of my favorite spots to visit in Paris is Père Lachaise Cemetery. ALWAYS be sure to bring a map you have downloaded online, or buy a map from a florist shop near the entrance. There are no maps once you are inside the cemetery, except a large one on a sign. Warning, the florist maps are rather vague. This makes your visit even more fun. You know you are in the general area, but are stepping over graves and reading tombstones while mumbling, “It has to be here someplace!” I had this especially with the grave of Jeanne Hébuterne and Amedeo Modigliani (and their unborn child). I searched using the florist map, and finally teamed up with another seeker (from Australia). We took turns with the rows, until we came upon their simple grave in the Jewish section of the cemetery.

Hard to find in Paris, but worth finding….

The following two videos are from a recent trip to Paris. I always visit Marcel Proust, because I’m very fond of his writing. Also, his grave is in a rather easy place to visit! He’s quite near an entrance, and as I say in the video, it’s rather amusing his family…that was so disapproving, is buried in the grave with him.

Proust, happily at work in bed (I’m a fan of writing in bed also)
His medical family disapproved of him, but the family all ended
up together eventually!

Appolinaire, with the wound that did not directly
kill him…

Guillaume Apollinaire is perhaps less well known than Proust, but his influence on the early surrealists was huge. I had a lovely older Parisian show me where the grave was (the map was hopeless). The cemetery has a lovely group of seniors that will show you where almost any grave is, all they ask is a small pourboire. It’s all part of the delightful ritual of visiting a cemetery in Paris.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ms73tAlln8

For a more silly visit video (my husband and I were bored on Easter Sunday when everything was closed….) here is our take on my pretending to be a psychic. Off the cuff, but I do enjoy the Proust bit. You get Oscar Wilde also. Usually the cemetery is quiet, but being Easter Sunday (and EVERYTHING closed) you can see the place was fairly crowded!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SYjWYaylN4