Pere Lachaise Cemetery

The Pere Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Paris, but also one of the most famous in the world. Located in the 20th district of Paris, it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year to the graves of many famous people. It also has three memorials of World War I.

Successively called Champ-l’Evêque, Mont-aux-Vignes and Mont-Louis, the land was occupied in the 17th century by François d'Aix de La Chaise, called Père La Chaise, confessor of Louis XIV. At the death of the Jesuit father, his brother the Earl of La Chaise organized several parties there, which contributed its expansion and beautification. At this time, a 1765 law was prohibiting the cemeteries in town. It was Napoleon Bonaparte, then consul, who subsequently decreed that "every citizen has the right to be buried regardless of race or religion." Alexandre Théodore Brongniart was then responsible for the design of the cemetery, which was opened in 1804.

Among those buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, we can cite: Guillaume Apollinaire, François Arago, Honoré de Balzac, Henri Barbusse, Alexandre Théodore Brongniart, Maria Callas, Frédéric Chopin, Alphonse Daudet, Eugène Delacroix, Jean de la Fontaine, Paul Eluard, Félix Faure, Molière, Yves Montand, Jim Morrison, Jean Moulin, Edith Piaf, Marcel Proust, Marie Trintignant, Oscar Wilde.