Silent charm of Père Lachaise

Recently I had a conversation about Oscar Wilde, and I thought I might post some photographs of his grave and Père Lachaise Cemetery for those who have never been there.

Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise Cemetery of Paris is a city of its own. The City of the Dead, lined with streets tightly packed with tombs, chapels and mausoleums, housing more than 70.000 bodies, and many more in the Columbarium. Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise

Here is a list of the graves you might check to find out that you are familiar with the names, and actually love and admire many of them. I could go on and on talking how amazing this place is. I spent there four hours and still didn’t see all of the graves I wanted to. Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise  Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise

You can take a guided tour, you can walk the cemetery by yourself with a map in your hands, but please plan this visit.  Don’t listen to those who tell you that  Père Lachaise is a creepy place. It is not. This visit would be one of the best memories of your life.

Oscar Wilde’s grave is not much of a ‘resting’ place. Thousands of his admirers traveled to plant a kiss on the tomb surface.  This tradition started  in the 80s-90s.

Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise

These photographs were taken in 2009. In 2011 a glass panel was installed to protect the hundred-year old monument from damage, which panel was soon covered with new lipstick kisses. The kisses you see on my pictures are all gone after the renovation which, by the way, was financed by Irish Government ( or it is what I have heard). I know these kisses look silly, but I have to confess that I kissed my fingers and touched the stone. No lipstick though. Just to say thank you to a great man for the lessons I have learned from him since I was twelve, old enough to legally pick up a copy of his Portrait of Dorian Gray from our school library.

 

Photography tip of the day: When travelling, take several 4Gb memory cards with you rather than one 32Gb. If your only memory card gets corrupted, you lose all your images

. Have a great day!

33 comments

  1. What a lovely post. I am very happy that other people visit on the Père Lachaise Cemetery , than us. Last May we visited there for the third time and always it is so interesting with its palpable atmosphere. We always start exploring the cemetery from the grave Jim Morrison. This it took nearly an hour to find it.

    We saw for example Fred Chopin, Vincenzo Bellini, Molière, Sara Bernard, Honorè Balzac, Eugene Delacroix, simone Signoret and Yves Montand, Oscar Wilde, Madame Lampoukas (Edith Piaff).

    I always say to the people who visit Paris that they have not seen Paris, if they do not visit Père Lachaise Cemetery!

    1. Thank you for your comment! I am so delighted that you visited this amazing place. So many familiar names, I feel like I visited my good old friends. You are so right – trip to Paris is not completed without a visit to Père Lachaise Cemetery.

    1. I am thrilled to know that I helped you to choose this place. I would advise you to go through that long list of the names, and first of all to mark the names you are familiar with. Second – check out, may be you know somebody else, just forgot their name, and add them to the list too. Don’t miss the Columbarium wall. After that take the map and figure out the route of your excursion, so that you don’t have to walk unnecessary distances – the cemetery is enormous. You can ever read more about the people on your list, to refresh your memory. You will feel like you are visiting your old friends.

  5. What a great place! Also the resting spot of Jim Morrison (my kids wanted to see that) and Heloise and Abelard (which I wanted to see). Great photos!

  6. I love to visit it although you’ve made me think I haven’t been for a while…I always have to go by Oscar Wilde’s tomb (I love him) but so many interesting people….

  8. Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
    I have always found cemetaries fascinating places. It is not macabre but an opportunity to often step back into history especially when there are several family members interred together. Oscar Wilde would have been delighted to be placed in such a romantic and elegant final resting place and I am sure would have some acerbic but witty comments to make about his neighbours. Lovely tour in a part of Paris that I have not visited but will put on the list.

  10. This is a beautifully photographed post, Inese. I enjoy your work! Your wording is very good, too, just so you know, 🙂

    Have you written a “what’s in my camera bag” post? I haven’t yet, but they are somewhat popular here in the US. It’s a way of trading photography tips and equipment suggestions.

    Thank you for today’s tip! I had not thought of that!

    Best,
    Emily Grace

    1. Thank you!:) I got nominated a few days ago but only today i had time to nominate the others. You can copy and paste the logo, and if you wish to keep it on a side board, you go to appearance-widgets, and get a widget for images and then post the image through the url on a sideboard of your choice. No rush with it, you can take your time. Any text will do, you don’t have to answer any questions, just link it to the ten nominees and me:)
      Cheers
      Inese

      1. Yes, I like it that there is not a long list of questions. Those are stressful! 🙂

        Is there a meaning behind the “black wolf”?

        1. no idea… but i checked the previous nominee blogs and they were good, decent anyway. the lady who nominated me has a great blog too. she was nominated with three awards this time, and has another ten or more on her page.

    1. It must be:). The best part of visiting this cemetery is finally meeting with old friends: Writers, musicians, actors, philosophers…

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