Père Lachaise Cemetery

The cemetery takes its name from François d'Aix de La Chaise (1624–1709), confessor to Louis XIV, who had a Jesuit house on the estate of Mont-Louis. In 1803 the site was approved for a new cemetery, which the architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart laid out with axes and paths in the manner of an English garden. Étienne-Hippolyte Godde later designed the entrance and chapel.

There were 13 graves in the opening year, 1804, and more than 33,000 by 1830. Today around a million people rest here. Those buried include Molière, Honoré de Balzac, Frédéric Chopin, Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Édith Piaf and Jim Morrison. The monuments range from plain stones to chapels and sculpture.

The Mur des Fédérés is a place of particular remembrance. In May 1871, after the end of the Paris Commune, 147 Communards were shot against this wall. The City of Paris publishes thematic maps, for example on notable people, women and the Commune of 1871, as well as an interactive map for locating graves. The ground is uneven, and the city recommends allowing at least two hours for a visit.