Description of the attraction
Pere Lachaise is the largest cemetery in Paris. The ashes of famous scientists, writers and artists, military men and politicians are buried here.
Père Lachaise is now one of the most famous burial sites in the world. In the Middle Ages, here, on the outskirts of the capital, lay a poor criminal district. Then a monastery appeared here. The land became the property of the Jesuit order, one of which was the confessor of Louis XIV Francois de la Chaise. The name of the cemetery (Pere Lashaise) literally translates as "Father la Chaise".
The land here was acquired by the city in 1804. At first, the Parisians did not want to bury their relatives in such a wilderness. The authorities took an unconventional step: they reburied the remains of La Fontaine, Moliere, Abelard and his student Eloise here. This gave the result - the cemetery became prestigious.
In 1814, the troops of the anti-Napoleonic coalition entered Paris. The youth tried to block their path with barricades. On Père Lachaise, the cadets of the military school resisted the Russians. The Cossacks pierced them with bayonets and set up their camp in the cemetery.
Today, more than one million deceased, including celebrities, are buried on Père Lachaise. More than two million people visit the cemetery every year. It is extremely interesting to wander here, but it should be remembered that the cemetery is distinguished by an amazing chaotic layout. Some graves are difficult to find.
Among the famous burial places can be called the Wall of the Communards: the last fighters of the Paris Commune were shot at it. In 2005, a monument to Russian participants in the French Resistance was erected on Père Lachaise. Here are buried Napoleonic marshals Massena, Murat and Ney, the genius Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion, the great Beaumarchais, Balzac and La Fontaine, the composer Georges Bizet and the American from The Doors group Jimmy Morrison, the great Parisian "sparrow" Edith Piaf …
The famous Russians also rest on Père Lachaise: the Decembrist Turgenev, Princess Trubetskaya, the Demidovs. In the local columbarium there are urns with the ashes of Sergei Yesenin and Nestor Makhno. The entrance to the territory is free and free.
