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Smithsonian MagazineOct 22, 2025

Why Paris Designed Its Peculiarly Popular Grand Graveyards to Evoke a Celebration of Life Amid All the Death

Cemeteries that inspired parks serve as unlikely tourist attractions in the City of Light and prove that the end of the line is just the start of a new story

Subterranean streets of skulls, austere and uncanny

22 things in this story

Père LachaiseMuseumSprawling cemetery, best-known in Europe, with famous tombs
Montmartre CemeterySightThe Cemetery of Montmartre is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th…
Montparnasse CemeterySightThe cemetery is roughly 19 hectares and is the second largest cemetery in Paris.
CatacombsMuseumSubterranean streets of skulls, austere and uncanny
MontmartreNeighborhoodCemetery in north Paris, associated with artistic history
MontparnasseSuburbFlat cemetery, near Montparnasse Tower
Cimetière de l’EstSightEarliest name for Père Lachaise, built in hilly area
Mount AuburnSightCemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, inspired by Père Lachaise
Oak HillSightCemetery in Washington, D.C.
Green-WoodSightCemetery in New York
Pont CaulaincourtSightBridge cutting through Montmartre Cemetery since 1888
L’École du ChatPlaceOrganization caring for cemetery stray cats
Cemetery of Saint-OuenSightCemetery north of Montmartre, home to stray cats
Jim Morrison’s graveSightResting place in Père Lachaise, attracts crowds
Serge Gainsbourg’s graveSightGrave in Montparnasse Cemetery
Jane Birkin’s ashesSightInterred near Serge Gainsbourg's grave
Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir’s graveSightShared grave in Montparnasse, marked by simple headstone
André ChabotPlace
Moulin RougeTheatre
Édith Piaf's graveSight
Frédéric Chopin's graveSight
Oscar Wilde's graveSight

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Why Paris Designed Its Peculiarly Popular Grand Graveyards to Evoke a Celebration of Life Amid All the Death