The Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery ( French ''Cimetière du Bois-de-Vaux'') is the principal burial ground of

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Laid out by the architect

Alphonse Laverrière Alphonse Laverrière (16 May 1872 – 11 March 1954) was a Swiss architect. He studied at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts and was professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. In 1912, he won a gold me ...

between 1922 and 1951, the cemetery lies to the south of the town and has been designated as a cultural property of national importance (''bien culturel suisse d'importance nationale'').

Description

There is a long central avenue lined with two rows of lime trees, banks stocked with flowering plants, ponds with fish and

water lilies ''Water Lilies'' (or ''Nymphéas'', ) is a Serial imagery, series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionism, Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his Fondation Monet in Giverny, flower garden at Fond ...

, many benches, and forty kilometres of hedges. Together with thousands of trees they provide homes for many different birds, while the other wildlife living in the hedges and undeveloped parts of the cemetery includes

badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united b ...

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

es,

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

s and

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...

s. The cemetery has enough room for 26,000 plots. When the city of Lausanne heard in 1929 that the American bishop

Charles Brent Charles Henry Brent (April 9, 1862 – March 27, 1929) was the Episcopal Church's first Missionary Bishop of the Philippine Islands The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ...

had died in Lausanne and wished to be buried there, they offered a plot for his remains in the section of the Bois-de-Vaux cemetery reserved for distinguished foreigners.

Notable graves

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (; 27 January 181417 September 1879) was a French architect and author who restored many prominent medieval landmarks in France, including those which had been damaged or abandoned during the French Revolution. H ...

(1814–1879), area 18, plot 101 *

(1862–1929)Ian Tyrrell, ''Reforming the World: The Creation of America's Moral Empire'' (2010), p. 245 *

Pierre de Coubertin Charles Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (; born Pierre de Frédy; ...

(1863–1937), area 9, plots 153-154 *

(1872-1954), area 1 * Eugenia Livanos-Niarchos (1927–1970) *

Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( , ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with popularizing a sporty, c ...

(1883–1971), area 9, plot 129 *

Tina Onassis Niarchos Athina Mary "Tina" Onassis Niarchos (; el, Αθηνά (Τίνα) Λιβανού, ; 19 March 1929 – 10 October 1974) was an English-born Greek-French socialite and shipping heiress, the second daughter of the Greek shipping magnate Stavros L ...

(1929–1974)William Wright, Michael Wright, ''All the Pain Money Can Buy: The Life of Christina Onassis'' William Wright, (2000), p. 199 * Paul Robert (1910–1980), area 9, plot 127 *

Gloria Guinness Gloria Guinness previously Gloria von Fürstenberg, née Rubio y Alatorre (27 August 1912 – 9 November 1980) was a Mexican socialite and fashion and cultural icon, as well as a contributing editor to ''Harper's Bazaar'' from 1963 to 1971, con ...

(1913–1980) * Loel Guinness (1906–1988) *

Pierre Dudan Pierre Dudan (1916–1984) was a Russian-born Swiss actor and singer. He was born in Moscow to a Russian mother and a Swiss father. He married four times. Selected filmography * '' Night Warning'' (1946) * '' The Fugitive'' (1947) * '' The Lyons ...

(1916–1984) *

Stavros Niarchos Stavros Spyrou Niarchos ( el, Σταύρος Σπύρου Νιάρχος, ; 3 July 1909 – 15 April 1996) was a Greek billionaire shipping tycoon. Starting in 1952, he had the world's biggest supertankers built for his fleet. Propelled by both ...

(1909–1996)

Royal graves

Some members of the exiled Yugoslav royal family were initially buried here, but their remains were later moved to the mausoleum at

Oplenac The St. George's Church in Oplenac ( sr-cyrl, Црква Светог Ђорђа на Опленцу, Crkva Svetog Đorđa na Oplencu), also known as Oplenac (Опленац), is the mausoleum of the Serbian and Yugoslav royal house of Karađorđ ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, when allowed by the government in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

: *

Prince Nicholas of Yugoslavia Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia (29 June 1928 – 12 April 1954), also known in Britain as Prince Nicholas and in Serbia as Nikola Karađorđević ( sr-cyr, Никола Карађорђевић), was the younger son of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia by h ...

(1928–1954)Ricardo Mateos Sainz de Medrano, ''La Familia de la Reina Sofía : La Dinastía griega, la Casa de Hannover y los reales primos de Europa, Madrid, La Esfera de los Libros'' (2004, ), p. 262 *

Prince Paul of Yugoslavia Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, also known as Paul Karađorđević ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Pavle Karađorđević, Павле Карађорђевић, English transliteration: ''Paul Karageorgevich''; 27 April 1893 – 14 September 1976), was prince regent o ...

(1893–1976), former Regent of Yugoslavia, father of Prince Nicholas *

Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark ( el, Όλγα; 11 June 1903 – 16 October 1997) was a Greek princess who became princess of Yugoslavia as the wife of Prince Paul, Regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Princess Olga was a daughter of P ...

(1903–1997), mother of Prince Nicholas Also, the Queen Mother of Romania, a first cousin and friend of Princess Olga, was buried in the cemetery in 1982, but in 2019 her remains were due to be moved to the

Curtea de Argeș Cathedral The Cathedral of Curtea de Argeș (early 16th century) is a Romanian Orthodox cathedral in Curtea de Argeș, Romania. It is located on the grounds of the Curtea de Argeș Monastery, and is dedicated to Dormition of the Mother of God. The buildin ...

in Romania: *

Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark Helen of Greece and Denmark ( el, Ελένη, ''Eleni''; ; 2 May 1896 – 28 November 1982) was the queen mother of Romania during the reign of her son King Michael I (1940–1947). She was noted for her humanitarian efforts to save Romanian Je ...

(1896–1982)Royal Tombs
/ref>

Gallery

File:Gabrielle « Coco » Chanel.jpg, Grave of Gabrielle «Coco» Chanel File:Pierre tombale - Pierre de Coubertin - 2.JPG, Grave of Baron Pierre de Coubertin File:Soldats du Feu.jpg, Firefighters' monument File:BoisVaux5.JPG, Water feature File:BoisVaux6.jpg, Arrangement of graves File:BoisVaux3.JPG, There are many trees

Notes

{{Coord, 46, 31, 17, N, 6, 35, 57, E, type:landmark_region:CH, display=title Cemeteries in Switzerland