Guillotière Cemetery is the name of two adjacent but associated cemeteries in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

, France. The two cemeteries are distinguished according to when they were built: the new cemetery () was built in 1854 and the old cemetery () in 1822. They are situated in the

La Guillotière LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

neighborhood of the city, in the 7th and

8th 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number ...

arrondissements, just south of

Parc Sergent Blandan Parc Sergent Blandan, also shortened to Parc Blandan, is an urban park in the 7th arrondissement of Lyon in Lyon, France, adjacent to Cimetière de la Guillotière Ancien. With an area of , the park opened to the public on 13 September 2013 at ...

. They were built to address the shortage of burial spaces in the city. The old cemetery is just north of the new cemetery, and the two are separated by

Avenue Berthelot Avenue Berthelot is a street in the 7th (Guillotière) and 8th arrondissement ( Bachut) of Lyon which connects the Galliéni bridge at the east to the A43 highway via the avenue Jean Mermoz which extends it to the west. History Formerly named av ...

and the railroad tracks connecting Perrache and

Part-Dieu Part-Dieu () is an area of Lyon Metropolis. It is also the second largest tertiary district in France, after La Défense in Greater Paris, with over 1,150,000 m2 of office and service space, along with 45,000 service sector jobs, 2,500 compan ...

railway stations. The new cemetery is the largest in Lyon at .

History

Before the end of the 17th century only small church cemeteries existed in Lyon. In 1695 a cemetery named "Cimitière de la Madeleine" was built to accommodate the dead from

Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon was a hospital of historical significance situated on the west bank of the Rhone river, on the Presqu'île (the Peninsula between the Saône and Rhone rivers which run through the city center). It has been out of use since 2010 ...

. In 1807 Cimetière de Loyasse was built on Fourvière hill. These new cemeteries still did not provide enough space for the rapidly growing city, and Guillotière Cemetery was meant to alleviate the growing need for more burial spaces. The development of Guillotière Cemetery had first been proposed on 1 March 1795 to be built at "Clos Macors", in the commune of

, but the cemetery didn't open until 1822. When La Guillotière amalgamated with

in 1852, it became the main cemetery in the city of Lyon. Despite the additional land, by 1854 the space again proved to be insufficient so the new cemetery was constructed to provide additional space for burials. The cemetery sustained significant damage when it was mistakenly bombed by the American military during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

on 26 May 1944. There is still visible damage on some of the graves at the south end of the new cemetery near rue Pierre Delore.

Design

The new cemetery is organized in concentric circles, and is the largest in the city at . , the two cemeteries together contained around 40,000 tombs. A square of child graves, that includes 80 mini crypts, was constructed in 2015 with support from the

Hospices Civils de Lyon The Université Hospital of Lyon (french: Hospices Civils de Lyon, HCL) was created on January 18, 1802. It is the second Teaching hospital A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to fu ...

and the city of Lyon. This construction was to create space after a similar square built in 2009 reached its capacity. The 2015 construction encompasses an area of and cost around €25,000. The two cemeteries are separated by

and the railroad tracks connecting Perrache and

railway stations.

Notable interments

Several notable people are buried at the cemetery, including: * Painter , died 13 September 1886 * Automobile manufacturer , died 17 April 1949 * Restaurateur and philanthropist , died 3 March 1940 * Pilot

Élisabeth Boselli Élisabeth Thérèse Marie Juliette Boselli (11 March 1914 – 25 November 2005), was a French military and civilian pilot. She was the first female fighter pilot to serve in the French Air Force, and held eight world records for distance, altitud ...

, died 25 November 2005 * Author , died 16 November 1931 * Politician Jules Brunard, died 25 July 1910 * Politician , died 14 October 1958 * Architect , died 14 November 1876 *

Checkers Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

player , died 30 March 1985 * Soldier , died 19 September 1892 * Actor

Georges Grey Georges Grey, born Georges-Jean-Joseph Gacon (1911–1954) was a French actor. In 1948 he starred in the film '' The Lame Devil'' under Sacha Guitry. Biography He studied engineering at university, before going to the Cavalry School of Saumur. ...

, died 2 April 1954 * Professor and

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

winner

Victor Grignard Francois Auguste Victor Grignard (6 May 1871 – 13 December 1935) was a French chemist who won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the eponymously named Grignard reagent and Grignard reaction, both of which are important in the formation of c ...

, died 13 December 1935 * Politician , died 16 August 1894 *

Cinématographe Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to print films (such as the Cin ...

inventors

Auguste and Louis Lumière The Lumière brothers (, ; ), Auguste Lumière, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (19 October 1862 – 10 April 1954) and Louis Lumière, Louis Jean Lumière (5 October 1864 – 6 June 1948), were French manufacturers of photography equipment ...

, died 10 April 1954 and 6 June 1948 respectively (buried in location A6 in the new cemetery) * Pilot and founding director of

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airl ...

, died 4 October 1971 * founder * Television host Jacques Martin, died 2007 * General officer , died 4 January 1845 * Radio and television host , died 23 May 2006 * French ophthalmologist

Ferdinand Monoyer Ferdinand Monoyer (9 May 1836 – 11 July 1912) was a French ophthalmologist, known for introducing the dioptre in 1872. He invented the Monoyer chart, used to test visual acuity. He inserted his name in the random letters of the chart. ...

, died 11 July 1912 * Inventor , died 24 January 1907 * Circus family Rancy () * Sculptor , died 13 December 1876 *

Free French Air Forces The Free French Air Forces (french: Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres, FAFL) were the air arm of the Free French Forces in the Second World War, created by Charles de Gaulle in 1940. The designation ceased to exist in 1943 when the Free Fr ...

pilot , died 22 May 1999 * Sculptor

Jean Verschneider Jean Verschneider (29 August 1872 – 20 December 1943) was a French sculptor. His work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924 ...

, died 1943 * Self-proclaimed prophet , died 7 December 1875

Gallery

Ancien cimetière de la Guillotière 02.jpg, The old cemetery Crématorium Nouveau cimetière de la Guillotière 01.JPG, The

crematorium A crematorium or crematory is a venue for the cremation of the dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a crematorium can also ...

in the new cemetery Nouveau cimetière de la Guillotière monument 01.JPG, Monument to the dead of the Franco-Prussian War, in the new cemetery Tombe des frères Lumière.jpg,

Lumière brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: *Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People *Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV * Institut Lumière, a ...

' family tomb

References

External links