Cimetière du Père Lachaise aka: Père Lachaise Cemetery

...as the first time I arrived just before it closed (first cemetary I’ve ever visited with opening hours). The best way I can describe it is literally a city of the dead; it has streets, neighbourhoods and even taller “buildings” in the form of the more ostenatious tombs. There was one tomb that I wanted to see that I just could not find – the one of the lion-tamer with a statue showing him riding his pet lion (who killed him). The most moving part by far is the corner dedicated to memorials for the holocaust victims – the statues definitely do not shy away from the reality of the victims’ suffering.

I spent a semester in Holland while in college, and one week we took a class excursion to Paris. I was so excited about visiting this cemetery, especially when I learned that my favorite art history professor would be giving the tour.

Unfortunately, the morning of one of our classmates lost his passport and Eurail pass. So while our professor was dealing with him, the rest of us wondered around the cemetery on our own. It was still cool, and I’m very happy I had a chance to see it (and Jim Morrison’s grave before he’s evicted…), but I’m still bummed out about it.

I love cemeteries and could have spent the whole day here searching out the interesting tombs of the famous and not so famous. But there were 5 other people in my group, 3 of whom would not have appreciated so much a day of traipsing about amongst the dead. We did find Jim Morrison and Chopin and this interesting tomb of a mid-19th century partisan. Excellently creepy!

the first time i went to paris, i arrived in the early evening and couldn’t sleep all night. I went walking just before dawn and ended up here, exhausted and hungry, near hallucinating, and wandered around for a couple of hours, it was great, though cortazar lives in montparnasse….

The fact that so many famous people have been buried here is of course a prime reason why it’s such an attraction…but it is also a very captivating location, a stillness in the heart of the city, not truly as silent as one could hope for, but even so. I think what moved me the most were the series of memorials for various victims of the Holocaust.

...this place. I think it means something different to everyone who visits…it is not an ordinary cemetery, it is a collection of monuments honoring human contribution….both from the famous “residents” and those who are largely unknown. It moves me, each time I go there, in a different way.

I don’t think I have ever been to a cemetery on a tourist trip.
Morrison and good reviews below.

i couldn’t figure out where all of the bodies were. so many huge monument like things for entire families…and i think i almost fell through the open floor of one of these monument houses when i was leaning in and trying to figure out if they put bodies way down in the ground. it was freaky.

This one is small enough to be manageable, but it’s out of the way, and there are better cemeteries in Paris to visit. Skip it.

despite having everyone i know make fun of me for visiting a cemetary, i had a great time visiting pere lachaise. oscar wilde’s grave was a highlight, and i found the interaction between the grandeur of the monuments and the ravages of time (read: loads of cool moss) engrossing. and if you are as lucky as me you might even have a black cat run out of a grave and straight across your path… i think i am the most cursed person ever.