Cemetery of Montparnasse
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Montparnasse Cemetery (french: link=no, Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery has over 35,000 graves and approximately a thousand people are buried here each year. The cemetery contains 35,000 plots and is the resting place to a variety of individuals including political figures, philosophers, artists, actors, and writers. Additionally, in the cemetery one can find a number of tombs commemorating those who died in the Franco-Prussian war during the siege of Paris (1870–1871) and the Paris Commune (1871).


History

The cemetery was created at the beginning of the 19th century in the southern part of the city. At the same time there were cemeteries outside the city limits:
Passy Cemetery Passy Cemetery (french: Cimetière de Passy) is a small cemetery in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. History The current cemetery replaced the old cemetery (''l'ancien cimetière communal de Passy'', located on Rue Lekain), ...
to the west, Montmartre Cemetery to the north, and Père Lachaise Cemetery to the east. In the 16th century the intersecting roads of Vavin and Raspail were dump areas for rubble and stones from nearby quarries. This created an artificial hill and is where "mont" came into the name Montparnasse. Students at the time would congregate on the hill to have fun and participate in open-air dances. During the French Revolution the land and church were confiscated and the cemetery became property of the government. At this time, anyone who died at the hospital and whose body was not claimed was buried here. In the 19th century cemeteries were banned in Paris due to health concerns. Several new cemeteries outside the precincts of the capital replaced all the internal Parisian ones: Montmartre Cemetery in the north, Père Lachaise Cemetery in the east, and Montparnasse Cemetery in the south. Montparnasse as well as Père Lachaise and Montmartre replaced the Cimetière des Innocents (those buried here were relocated to the
Catacombs Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etymology and history The first place to be referred ...
). During this time the city of Paris attained the estate and surrounding grounds in order to create a cemetery for the burial of people who lived in the Left Bank of the city. Previously, these inhabitants were buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Catherine and in the village of Vaugirard. The cemetery at Montparnasse was originally known as ''Le Cimetière du Sud'' (Southern Cemetery) and it officially opened 25 July 1824. Since its opening, more than 300,000 people have been buried in Montparnasse.


Moulin de la Charité

In the 17th century the future location of the cemetery consisted of three farms that belonged to the
Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...
hospital and an estate of the Brothers of Charity (frères de la Charité). During this time monks built a windmill that later became a
Guinguette The guinguette was a popular drinking establishment in the suburbs of Paris and of other cities in France. Guinguettes would also serve as restaurants and often as dance venues. The origin of the term comes from ''guinguet'', indicating a local ...
and the home of the cemetery's caretaker. The mill, which is still standing is the last remnant of the farms.


The cemetery today

The main entrance to the cemetery is north of Boulevard Edgar Quinet near the Edgar Quinet Métro station. The cemetery is divided in two parts by the Rue Émile Richard. The small section is usually referred to as the small cemetery (''petit cimetière'') and the large section as the large cemetery (''grand cimetière''). The west of Émile-Richard Street is divided into 21 divisions and to the east of Émile-Richard Street the cemetery is divided into 8 divisions numbered from 22 to 30 (there is no 23rd division). With 47 acres, Montparnasse is a large green space inside the city limits of Paris. Within the cemetery one can find a variety of trees including linden, Japanese pagoda, thuja, maple, ash, and conifers. Because of the many notable people buried there, it is a popular tourist attraction. In 2016, the permanent work ''CAUSSE'' was installed in the preserved section of the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris. A prominent French scientist commissioned a tomb from the artist engineer
Milène Guermont Milène Guermont, born in 1981 in Normandy, France, is an artist and an inventor. Her major artworks in public spaces are the monument INSTANTS for the 70th anniversary of the Second World War at Utah Beach, the tomb CAUSSE at Montparnasse Cem ...
. This work is a single block of ultra high performance concrete and optical fibers composed of 12 sides to materialize the electron de-multiplier cell invented by the client. This sculpture interacts with the environment: when an individual or a bird passes by, one of its points of light can go out or light up. This work has several peaks that refer to the commissioner's native mountains. The first viewing of the artwork was on November 1, 2016.


Commemorative tombs

Montparnasse Cemetery is the resting place of many of France's intellectual and artistic elite and those who promoted the works of authors and artists. There are graves of foreigners who made France their home as well as monuments to police and
firefighters A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
killed in the line of duty. The cemetery has a number of religious tombs. North of the roundabout is a tomb for priests without family.
Rosalie Rendu Rosalie Rendu (9 September 1786 – 7 February 1856) was a Daughter of Charity who was a leading worker and organizer of care for the poor of 19th-century Paris' teeming slums, suffering from the rapid migration of people to the cities during th ...
, member of the society of apostolic life, has an individual tomb in the 14th division that is always well-decorated. Rendu was
beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
in 2003 by the Catholic church. The 5th and 30th divisions were at one time Jewish enclosures and contain many Jewish graves. Adolphe Crémieux, French lawyer and politician, gained citizenship for Jews in French-ruled Algeria in 1870.
Alfred Dreyfus Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...
, a French Jew, is buried in the south of the cemetery and is famous because of the Dreyfus affair which bears his name. He was unjustly accused and tried for treason, an event that divided France.
Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...
, French poet and author of Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil), is buried in division 6, but there is also a cenotaph to him (between division 26 and 27).
Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoca ...
's grave is also at Montparnasse. Visitors leave a variety of gifts on his gravesite, ranging from flowers and metro tickets to cabbages. Gainsbourg is considered one of the most popular figures in French popular music and was a French singer, songwriter, pianist, film composer, poet, painter, screenwriter, writer, actor and director. Marguerite Duras' grave is recognizable due to a pot and saucer full of planted pens. Duras moved to Indochina as a child with her parents, but was sent back to France before the beginning of World War II. Novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker, she received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards for her script in the film
Hiroshima Mon Amour ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (, lit. , ), is a 1959 romantic drama film directed by French director Alain Resnais and written by French author Marguerite Duras. Resnais' first feature-length work, it was a co-production between France and Japan, and ...
(Hiroshima My Love).
Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...
is buried with Jean-Paul Sartre. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the first person to self-proclaim as an anarchist, is also buried here.
Jacques Lisfranc Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...
's tomb is in the 13th division. He started his career as a surgeon during the German Campaign of 1813. Lisfranc spread his knowledge about the anatomy of the joints of the foot and used this knowledge to treat many patients. Multiple generations of a family can be buried in Montparnasse. In the 14th division are three generations of the Deschanel family who all served in the third republic:
Émile Deschanel Émile Auguste Étienne Martin Deschanel (19 November 1819, Paris – 26 January 1904, Paris) was a French author and politician, the father of Paul Deschanel, the 11th President of the French Republic. His works include: ''Études sur Arist ...
, Paul Deschanel, and Paul-Louis Deschanel. Their bodies rest under the quote, "On n'emporte en mourant que ce que l'on a donné" (We can only take in death what we have given away) The cemetery does not have a monument dedicated to those who died during World War I.


Location

The boundaries of the cemetery are defined as rue Froidevaux in the south, rue Victor-Schœlcher in the east, boulevard Edgar-Quinet in the north, and rue de la Gaîté in the west. However, the main entrance to the cemetery is on Boulevard Edgar Quinet which leads to the large cemetery. There are smaller entrances to both the large and small cemeteries on Rue Émile Richard (near the junction with both Boulevard Raspail and Boulevard Edgar Quinet).


Gallery

File:Ext_tomb_PD.jpg,
Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...
grave. File:Tombe Baudelaire.jpg, Tomb of
Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...
File:Charles Baudelaire tomb in Montparnasse Cemetery.jpg, The Charles Baudelaire Cenotaph. File:Juliocortazar.jpg,
Julio Cortázar Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine, nationalized French novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an ent ...
's grave. File:Leverrier grave.jpg, Grave of Urbain Le Verrier File:Tombeau de Pouqueville.jpg, Grave of François Pouqueville File:Paris - Cimetière du Montparnasse - Edgar Quinet 1.jpg, Grave of
Edgar Quinet Edgar Quinet (; 17 February 180327 March 1875) was a French historian and intellectual. Biography Early years Quinet was born at Bourg-en-Bresse, in the ''département'' of Ain. His father, Jérôme Quinet, had been a commissary in the army, b ...
File:Tombe de Sartre et Beauvoir au cimetière du Montparnasse.jpg, Grave of Jean Paul Sartre and
Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...
File:Sartre+Beauvoir grave.JPG, Grave of Jean-Paul Sartre and
Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...
File:Bakhtiar D8.jpg, Tomb of
Shapour Bakhtiar Shapour Bakhtiar ( fa, شاپور بختیار, ; 26 June 19146 August 1991) was an Iranian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Iran under the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. In the words of historian Abbas Milani: "more than once in ...
File:Pierre Restany tombe.jpg, Grave of
Pierre Restany Pierre Restany (24 June 1930 – 29 May 2003), was an internationally known French art critic and cultural philosopher. Restany was born in Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda, Pyrénées-Orientales, and spent his childhood in Casablanca. On returning ...
and
Jos De Cock Jos De Cock (15 January 1934 – 10 October 2010), was a Belgian-French painter, watercolorist, etcher and sculptor. She is also known as Jojo Restany, Josiane De Cock, José-Anne Decock Restany, Josianne de Koch, Jose-Anne Martine Paulette D ...
File:Cimetière Montparnasse.jpg, Aerial view of Cemetery


See also

* List of burials at Montparnasse Cemetery


References


External links


A list of many buried at the cemetery

Information and help in touring Montparnasse cemetery
in English. {{coord, 48, 50, 17, N, 2, 19, 37, E, region:FR-IDF_type:landmark, display=title Cemeteries in Paris Buildings and structures in the 14th arrondissement of Paris