Paris Père LaChaise Cemetery on All Saints Weekend

Toussaint or All Saints Day is a world wide Catholic feast day and in France it is a national holiday.   Besides the religious significance, it is a day I like to visit the lovely Paris cemeteries, especially the majestic Père LaChaise, which many consider to be the most beautiful cemetery in the world.

It is wonderful to visit  anytime of the year, but on Toussaint the abundance of vibrant bright chrysanthemums and other gayly coloured flowers are breath taking to see in all their glory.  Another reason I go, is in remembrance of  my own deceased family members, as I am not able to visit their graves today.

With its many steep and narrow cobblestone pathways that wind like a labyrinth up the steep hills, cradled with canopies of trees , there is a quiet romantic feel to the entire place.  Extremely ornate tombs, and steepled house like crypts, thickly line both sides of paths strewn with autumn coloured leaves.

Elaborate sculptured art adorns many crypts, some towering into the treetops.  Sculptured art can be found everywhere in Paris, but the magnificent funerary art at Père LaChaise is not to be missed!

Built on one of the seven hills of Paris, it was originally privately owned land full of  with luscious vineyards.  The Jesuits acquired it in 610, and one of their priests Francois d’Aix de la Chaise, called Père LaChaise, became the royal confessor to King Louis XIV, from whom the cemetery is named.

After transferring the remains of the dead from the over crowded Cimetière des Innocents (now Les Halles) to the Catacombs, Paris went on to build 4 new cemeteries that had to be outside the city walls.

The city of Paris eventually acquired Père Lachaise and in 1803 and commissioned a neo-classic architect to create the abundant english gardens set amongst hundreds of trees. Initially the city greatest families avoided the cemetery because it was in a poor working class area.

It was then that the city had the ingenious idea to transfer the remains of Héloise and Abélard, along with those of Moliere and La Fountaine to elevate Père LaChaise to a higher status of being a  more privileged and illustrious place to be buried.

The strategy worked and now it remains the place to be buried for all the wealthy and famous residents of Paris.  Unfortunately the cemetery is full and now has a lengthy waiting list to join over 1 million deceased and 2 to 3 million cremated remains for those wishing to be buried there.

Now 45% of deceased are cremated in the domed crematorium, the first built in France, as seen in the photo and buried in above ground and underground dwellings called the columbarium.

Only after a certain amount of time, if a tomb remains unclaimed by descendants and abandoned, will the remains be exhumed and transferred to a ossuary called Aux Morts on the grounds.

Père La Chaise now takes up a large part of the 20 arrondissement of Paris, where it receives over 1. 5 million visitors a year.  Its 108 plus acres hold 5,300 trees, over 40 species of resident birds, along with cats, bats, lizards, porcupines and red squirrels, making it a haven of nature for the living as well as the departed.

Yesterday was a semi cloudy mild autumn day that the peak through sun made  dancing shadows swayed  by the wind.  I saw a lot of families gathered of all faiths, lovingly washing tombs and planting or placing fresh flowers for their departed.

Clusters of tourists were following guides to take in all the famous people whose final resting place is here. I unfortunately forget to get a map, which is like me, relying on my own inner compass to go where I felt pulled.

Nevertheless, I passed by several well known graves, some seen before and some  new discoveries.  The most poignant for me remains that of Héloise and Abélard, forever entwined at last after having been painful separated from each other during their mortal times on earth, whose tortured love story I wrote about in July 2012.

As I slowly walked up the steep paths laid with old uneven stones, I was reminded of the intense struggles that life parcels out to all of us, rich or poor, famous or not.  Each deceased has a story to be told, and I wished I could know about the lives of those millions of ordinary souls,  whose lives certainly could have been as rich and interesting if not more so that the renown.

Then there were the ancient tombs, covered with shiny green moss, that weather and time had etched away their names and dates, looking bare without any adorning flowers.   Some of the steepled crypts had broken windows and doors exposing lovely stain glass windows that miraculously remain intact.

I felt an intense sense of loneliness in front a huge glass sepulchre of a Russian princess where  two beautiful white statues embraced in grief were draped with graceful spider webs, eerily dusted with time.

One of my favourites is the tomb of Monsieur Parmentier, who is credited for bringing the potato to the forefront of European consumption, by discarding previous myths that is was poisonous.   There are always small potatoes placed on top and yesterday his whole grave was encircled by bright chrysanthemums.

The most curious looking and inane sculptures was that of a young man by the name of Victor Noir sprawled on top of his tomb, with his top hat to the side, where a few flowers had been placed.  Strangely his protuberant groin had been polished smooth to a shiny steel gray.

I thought he must have been some sort of dandy, but upon my return I read that he had died at the mere age of 22 killed in a duel.  Apparently his tomb became a fertility symbol, inviting those in need to rub his groin in hopes for enhanced fecundity.

President Felix Faure is buried there, who infamously died during one of his extra marital trysts in the presidential mansion.  Famous French writers besides Molière buried there are Balzac, Alfred Musset, Marcel Proust and many other greats of France.

Edith Piaf is always one of the most visited, and though covered with flowers and mementoes, is small  and non elaborate.   One of her young lovers, songwriter Georges Moustaki is ironically buried nearby, likewise with many flowers.

Frederik Chopin has a beautiful feminine sculpture a top his tomb that befits his poetic music.  American rock singer Jim Morrison’s very modest tomb still draws many fans, some who have left  love locks in front.

I felt a sweet emotion in front of the rather simple tomb of sultry French actress Simone Signoret and singer Eves Montand, united in death as they were in life, in their apartment on Place Dauphine on Ile de La Cité.

Another American buried there is Clara Peabody Bancroft, who has one of the largest sculptured memorials.  She died in 1882 at the age of 56. and was married to Edward Payson Bancroft of Massachusetts.

There is whole row dedicated to those who were deported and died in the many concentration camps during world war II.  Each camp is represented with large memorials and filled with gathered ashes from these sites of horror and human injustice that befell many across Europe.

The saddest emotion felt was in front of the glass collective memorial for all the victims of the Air France Rio Janeiro flight, each of whom are listed.  There are also memorials for other downed flights, costing the lives of innocent others.

Père LaChaise is a wonderful place of peace and quiet to retreat from the ever present noise of Paris, and believe it or not, is often a place for lovers to stroll around and to have hidden embraces.  Perhaps its aura of perpetual immortality give rise to their own hopes of eternal love.

Each time I visit a cemetery, I am reminded of the limited time each of us has to make our lives worthwhile, be it with our love, good deeds, peacemaking, and sharing our gifts and talents to the greater good  and whole of mankind.

A few coins on the way out to help bury the poor and homeless is an nice gesture for us all and a reminder that burial comes with a hefty price for some with meager means.

 

I like to believe that all of us has the capacity to be saints in training.  Trying to be a blessing to others in our own unique way is why we came to earth in the first place.  It is up  to all of us to leave this earth a better place for those who will follow.