Mysteries and Legends of Père Lachaise Cemetery – An Uncommon Strolling Tour

Go to Père Lachaise Cemetery –The Most Well-known Cemetery in Paris

Uncover one of many most lovely cemeteries in Paris, the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Within the twentieth Arrondissement of Paris, the Père-Lachaise Cemetery is a sprawling 44-hectare park (the most important park in Paris), combining elegant landscaping and semi-wild areas. With greater than 70,000 tombs and several other wonderful funerary sculptures, the Père Lachaise Cemetery is probably the most well-known cemetery in Paris and likewise the world’s most well-known cemetery, an open-air museum that’s visited by 3 million individuals yearly!

The checklist of well-known individuals buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery is lengthy and consists of names like Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrisson, Apollinaire, and extra.

However the Cemetery of Père Lachaise’s fame can also be because of the legends whose Cemetery is full and secrets and techniques jealously guarded by the graves of nameless and well-known individuals.

For this different Père Lachaise tour, removed from the crowds, we are going to skip probably the most well-known graves in Père Lachaise Cemetery to study extra concerning the mysteries and legends of a number of the characters of the time. You possibly can take this Père Lachaise strolling tour anytime, but it surely’s preferrred throughout Halloween in Paris, maybe adopted by the Catacombs of Paris particular tour.

This Père Lachaise tour will cowl the extra centrally-located burial grounds, which correspond to probably the most historic a part of the Père Lachaise Cemetery. On prime of this, additionally, you will love the incredible panoramic views over Paris!

Historical past of Père Lachaise Cemetery

With the interior metropolis cemeteries of Paris largely full by the late 18th century, the Metropolis made a concerted effort to develop bigger cemeteries on its outskirts of Paris. The Cemetery of Père Lachaise was opened beneath the instruction of Napoleon I in 1804. The positioning was named after Père François de la Chaise, a Jesuit and the confessor of King Louis XIV, who lived there within the seventeenth century.

Cemetery of Père Lachaise Map

Right here’s the map of Père Lachaise Cemetery with all of the tales of this strolling tour pinpointed. If you wish to lengthen this Père Lachaise tour, you may choose up a map on the entrance of Père Lachaise that can lead you towards a number of the Cemetery’s most well-known graves.

Click on right here to see this Père Lachaise map on Google Maps

Mysteries and Legends of Père Lachaise Tour (Self-Guided)

This Père Lachaise strolling tour begins from the primary entry at Boulevard de Ménilmontant. The closest metro station is Père Lachaise (traces 2 and three).

The Cemetery’s Little Guardian

In French folklore, it’s believed that the primary particular person to be buried in a cemetery turns into the guardian of the souls of the place. For many who love this type of tales, the Père Lachaise Cemetery could be haunted by the spirit of slightly lady.

Within the Cemetery of Père Lachaise, the title belongs to a five-year-old lady named Adelaïde Paillard de Villeneuve. She was certainly the primary to be buried in a person tomb in 1804, solely 15 days after the opening of the Cemetery. This grave now not exists, because the plot was a brief concession.

When her momentary concession expired, a gravedigger with a coronary heart too tender to eliminate her little physique within the frequent grave would have reburied her secretly and anonymously within the heights of the Cemetery (tomb #13 on this Père Lachaise map).

Though there is no such thing as a written proof, an unofficial location is nonetheless maintained within the forty second Division. This tiny graveyard is situated inside the limits of Père Lachaise Cemetery, drawn by Brongiart in 1804.

A Very Particular Membership

Within the third Division of the Cemetery, the tomb of Jacques-Joseph Moreau de Excursions (1804-1884), a well-known psychiatrist of his time, is usually embellished with joints. Right here’s the story.

Moreau de Excursions was the primary doctor to do systematic work on medicine’ results on the central nervous system and to catalog, analyze, and file his observations. He’s the founding father of the Membership des Haschischins, frequented by well-known writers and artists like Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, Alexandre Dumas, Gustave Flaubert, and Honoré de Balzac.

The Membership’s month-to-month classes occurred on the Lodge de Lauzun on the Ile de Saint Louis. The classes have been nicknamed fantasies as a result of the drug was taken within the type of dawamesk, cannabis jam combined with honey, pistachio flour, butter, and hashish resin. A scrumptious cake, certainly!

Moreau de Excursions ensured that the classes and consumption went easily, which went by means of three phases: amplification of sensations, distortion of time, and visible hallucinations. He additionally needed to handle some members, who rapidly have been tempted to fly by means of the resort’s home windows!

Via cautious commentary of individuals’s reactions to cannabis – notably their openness to ideas and willingness to contemplate new potentialities – Moreau de Excursions theorized that psychoactive substances might deal with or replicate psychological sickness in a method to assist remedy sufferers.

Paris’ Well-known Fortune Teller

Within the third Division are additionally the stays of Mademoiselle Lenormand (1772-1843), probably the most well-known fortune-teller of her time.

By seven, she was already telling the Benedictine’s fortune within the convent the place she lived (a lot to the nuns’ dismay). She was expelled for that very motive, and he or she moved to Paris in the course of the first years of the French Revolution.

In Paris, she had a small bookshop at Rue de Tournon the place well-known figures of the Revolution got here to seek the advice of her. She predicted the violent dying of Marat, Robespierre, and Saint-Simply, for which she was imprisoned.

Her quick time in jail meant good advertising, and when she left it, all Paris of the Listing got here to seek the advice of her.

Amongst her purchasers, Joséphine de Beauharnais requested about one in all her pretendants, a “little Corsican officer with out fortune and doubtless with out future.”

Miss Lenormand would have replied: “Your little officer has an excellent future. He’ll surpass all males of this time. He’ll affiliate you together with his glory. However beware! This glory shall be fleeting, and your love will value you a lot tears!”

This “little officer” was Napoléon I, who additionally grew to become a superb shopper of Lenormand. However he ended up imprisoning her by treason, upset by a few of these predictions.

A century and a half after his dying, his tomb remains to be embellished with quite a few marks of affection. It’s customary for a brand new fortune teller to come back and place his deck on her tomb for one evening in order that it’s charged and guided by the spirit of the one who prophesied within the ear of the highly effective.

The American Widow

Winifred Parsons was a fantastic and rich lady, the daughter of Charles Parsons, president of the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg Railroad. She left New York to come back to Paris to hitch her fiancé, Emile Maas, the director of the Société des Vehicles Passe-Partout.

Emile was ready for sure formalities to be accomplished to marry the younger lady when he was the sufferer of a automotive accident and died. From that day on, Miss Parsons had solely the thought of ​​dying on her thoughts.

Winifred rented a room at 72 Avenue de Iéna. Each morning, she got here out of her room dressed all in black. She purchased flowers and went to cry within the Père Lachaise Cemetery on the grave of her fiancé. She, who was so vigorous and cheerful earlier than, now not spoke to anybody.

She introduced a number of instances her intention to place an finish to this insupportable martyrdom. She acquired a revolver, and for a number of days, she carried the weapon along with her with out deciding to make use of it. However on 22 August 1908, having dressed herself, she bought into mattress and shot herself within the head.

The police carried out the standard findings and warned the household of the unlucky younger lady. The physique remained within the fairly resort room that morning, scented by the flowers that the younger lady had organized herself earlier than dying. Two months later, Miss Parsons lastly joined her beloved fiancé at Père Lachaise (tomb #3 on this Père Lachaise Cemetery map).

A Profitable Advertising and marketing Technique

Héloïse and Abélard are two well-known lovers of Medieval Paris, the Romeo and Juliet of France! You possibly can examine Héloïse and Abélard’s not possible love and tragic ending on this publish.

On the time of its opening, the Cemetery of Père Lachaise was thought-about too removed from the town and attracted few funerals. Furthermore, most individuals most well-liked to be buried on the foot of their favourite bell tower, so in 1804, the Père Lachaise Cemetery contained solely 13 graves.

To draw extra burials, the stays of French poet Jean de La Fontaine and well-known French playwright Molière have been moved to the Cemetery inside a 12 months of its opening. This helped increase the profile of Père Lachaise, but it surely nonetheless didn’t show notably in style.

It wasn’t till Joséphine Bonaparte had the stays of Abélard and Heloïse moved to the Père Lachaise in 1817 that the Père Lachaise Cemetery grew to become “à la mode,” with individuals clamoring to be buried among the many well-known residents. With Abélard and Heloïse entombed close to its entrance (tomb #4 on this Père Lachaise map), the variety of interments grew from a number of dozen to 33,000 inside a number of years. Merci, Héloïse et Abélard!

The Man Who Made the Useless Communicate

Within the eighth Division, there’s some of the incredible tombs of the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, which belongs to Etienne-Gaspard Robertson (1763-1837). Born in Liège, Belgium, Robertson outlined himself as a physicist, phantasmagorician, and aeronaut, in response to his epitaph (tomb #5 on this map of Père Lachaise Cemetery).

Robertson was a proficient painter from an early age and made a residing by means of small portray commissions whereas attending lectures on the burgeoning science of electrical energy. These mixed skills have been first utilized in a plan to assemble Archimedes’ light-reflecting dying ray for the federal government of France. The mission went nowhere, however getting ready for it gave Robertson a sensible, working information of optics that impressed his experiments: elaborate horror spectacles referred to as phantasmagoria.

On the Pavillon Echiquier, then on the Couvent des Capucines, he arrange darkish efficiency halls lit by candles, richly embellished however sinister. Inventor of the fantascope, he projected pictures of ghosts or skeletons onto canvas screens utilizing a system of glass plates and mirrors. He even woke up lifeless characters like Marat, Danton, or Robespierre! His performances thrilled and terrified Parisians for 4 years earlier than shifting together with his innovations to different locations in Europe and North America.

The phantasmagoria stays Robertson’s most enduring legacy, eclipsing his scientific contributions to optics and his pioneering use of scorching air balloons to gather atmospheric and meteorological information. All these features of his life are documented by the ornament and phantasmagoric sculptures of his tomb.

Not With My Coronary heart

Fredrick Chopin is among the most well-known individuals buried at Père Lachaise (tomb #6 on this Père Lachaise map). The concern of being buried alive led Chopin to request the elimination of his coronary heart – he needed to make sure to not get up 6 ft beneath the bottom! He additionally made the request that his coronary heart be despatched again to Poland, his house nation, understanding that his physique would by no means go away Paris.

When he handed, Chopin’s eldest sister complied together with his will, taking the center earlier than his physique could possibly be buried and secreting it again to Poland in a jar of booze. She hid the package deal beneath her cloak, avoiding officers’ questions concerning the physique half she was carrying. She might smuggle it to the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw, the place it was buried beneath a small monument.

Without end Love

We don’t know a lot concerning the musician, actor, and architect Fernand Arbelot (tomb #7 on this Père Lachaise Cemetery map). Nonetheless, he has left fairly a legacy within the type of a singular tomb.

The tomb depicts him mendacity on his again, holding up a disembodied head and gazing into its chilly, stone eyes. An epitaph reads, “They have been amazed on the lovely journey which led them to the tip of life.”

Legend states that Arbelot’s want behind the tomb design was to gaze upon his spouse’s lovely face for all eternity. Nonetheless, wanting on the masks, it’s as if the masks was crying.

Some unsubstantiated claims point out that he sped that want alongside by killing her spouse earlier than taking his personal life in a murder-suicide. Which model do you want most?

From right here, we recommend taking a brief detour to Avenue de la Chapelle to admire the views (level #8 on this map of Père Lachaise Cemetery). On 2 July 1652, younger King Louis XIV witnessed the preventing of The Fronde raging within the Faubourg Saint-Antoine within the firm of Mazarin and the courtroom. A cannonball fired from the Bastille by his cousin, the Grande Mademoiselle, would have ended up at his ft. Miracle! The hill was then named Mont Saint-Louis in homage to this Royal go to.

After taking within the views, stroll again and search for the Chemin du Dragon (marked on this Père Lachaise map as Chemin des Chèvres).

The Path of the Vampires?

Within the Cemetery of Père Lachaise, Le Chemin du Dragon (Dragon’s Path in English) pays homage to Antoine Guillaume-Lagrange, an officer who died in Poland in the course of the Napoleonic Prussian marketing campaign. Though it designates the troopers touring on horseback, the phrase dragon primarily evokes the disturbing mythological creatures related to evil. From the Latin draco – dracul in Romanian – and a number of the tombs alongside the trail, it was just one step for this path to be nicknamed the Path of the Vampires!

Alongside this path, one can find the mausoleum of a mysterious Countess (see the following story) and the tomb of Georges III Bibesco, prince of Valachia (historic Romanian medieval principality).

Georges III Bibesco’s title comes from his ancestor, Vlad III Tepes, a merciless prince who reigned within the fifteenth century, often known as Draculea, son of the Dragon. We don’t know if he believed the tales associated to his ancestor, however his tomb (level #10 on this Père Lachaise Cemetery map) is surmounted by a royal eagle, holding in its claws a crucifix and a sword resembling a stake, the vampire hunter’s favourite weapons…

A Mysterious Russian Countess

Additionally, within the Chemin du Dragon, Countess Demidoff’s final resting place is the Cemetery’s second-largest mausoleum (level #9 on this Père Lachaise map). However most attention-grabbing is the story of the Countess’ testomony.

The Deminoff was one of many wealthiest households in Russia till the autumn of the final Tsar. Bored of his husband, Countess Elisabeth Alexandrovna Strogonoff-Demidoff moved to Paris, the place she lived till he died in 1818.

In her testomony, the Countess donated her fortune to whoever might watch over her corpse for an entire 12 months. The candidate should be alone with the lifeless for one year and nights earlier than the entire Countess’ fortune is gained. Although a servant would carry meals commonly to the watcher, any makes an attempt to speak with this worker have been strictly forbidden. The contender was allowed to depart their gloomy lodgings as soon as a day “to walk among the many tombs for an hour.” However this stroll needed to be undertaken after the Cemetery’s gates had closed for the evening or earlier than they opened within the morning.

Evidently, the Countess obtained 1000’s of requests to maintain her firm. A dozen or so even tried it, they usually grew to become mad – claiming that the Countess’ ghost had visited them and had tried to suck the life out of them – or dedicated suicide. The Cemetery has obtained requests till 1980.

Courageous Amongst Braves

On the finish of the Chemin du Dragon, within the twenty ninth Division (#11 on this map of Père Lachaise Cemetery), there’s the tomb of Marshal Michel Ney, one in all Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte’s well-known navy commanders. He was nicknamed “courageous amongst braves” by Napoléon I himself.

Nonetheless, when Napoléon abdicated, Ney was the primary Marshal to desert him to place himself within the companies of the brand new King Louis XVIII!

Whereas he promised the brand new King to carry Napoléon in an iron cage, he modified his thoughts once more and rallied to the Emperor. Nonetheless, the defeat at Waterloo in 1815 positively prevented Napoléon’s return to energy. Again to the throne, King Louis XVIII and the Chambre des Pairs sentenced Maréchal Ney to dying, and he was shot to dying in an alley of the Luxembourg Gardens. That is when the story ends, and legend begins…

One in all South Carolina’s most fascinating tales and best mysteries is the true id of a instructor who glided by the identify Peter Stuart. He arrived by ship in Charleston in 1816. He was a really clever man – he might communicate a minimum of 5 languages and was a poet and an knowledgeable in arithmetic – and he was an knowledgeable horseback rider and swordsman. His solely defect is that he appreciated booze maybe an excessive amount of.

One spring day in 1821, the professor was discovered bloody in his sheets, knife in hand. He had simply tried suicide. The day earlier than, the gazette had introduced the dying of Napoléon on the Island of Saint Helena. Later, he mentioned in despair that he might by no means go house to France to be together with his spouse and youngsters (he by no means married within the US).

Through the years, Peter Stuart mentioned and did sufficient to make individuals consider that the rumors about his previous rang have been true. Lastly, in November 1846, when Stuart was dying of pneumonia, his physician requested about his true id. Rising from his mattress, he informed the physician that, certainly, he was Marshal Ney. After he died, his physique was examined. It was lined in scars, mentioned by some to match the injuries Marshal Ney had obtained in battle.

In 1903, work was undertaken on the tomb of the Ney household on the Cemetery of Père Lachaise, which required momentary exhumations. Then, a gravedigger claimed that the Marshal’s coffin was empty. The gravedigger immediately disappeared, and the key stays hidden.

The Man Who Saved France from the Famine

The thirty ninth Division (tomb #12 on this Père Lachaise map) homes the grave of Antoine Parmentier (1737-1813), the promoter of the potato in France. Since his funeral, followers of those tubers have positioned them day by day on the sting of Parmentier’s grave, typically with variety little phrases (e.g., “Thanks for the fries!”), engraved within the potatoes.

Throughout his captivity in Prussia, Parmentier might respect the dietary virtues of the potato. Gained over by the dietary worth of the vegetable, Parmentier determined, upon his return to France, to develop its use to resolve the issue of endemic famines, which have been nonetheless ravaging France at the moment.

Along with this analysis, Parmentier started promoting his favourite meals. He commonly invited illustrious personalities, scientists or notables, to his desk, and he solely served them dishes ready with “parmentière,” as he preferred to name the tuber. King Louis XVI heard about this new vegetable and, as an excellent lover of discoveries, started to take an curiosity in it.

However probably the most difficult half was to persuade the individuals! At the moment, all of the greens rising beneath the bottom have been thought-about a product of the satan. And he solved the issue arousing envy and lust.

Thus, to make individuals consider this was a prestigious vegetable reserved for the King and his entourage, Parmentier had his vegetable backyard guarded by royal guards… However solely in the course of the day! At evening, he let thieves and curious individuals uncover this valuable vegetable that the courtroom jealously guarded!

On the best way to the following tomb of this Père Lachaise tour, you’ll move by the stays of Molière and Jean de La Fontaine (#13 on this Père Lachaise Cemetery map). They have been relocated to the adjoining plots in 1817 as a part of the advertising technique beforehand talked about, though for numerous causes, nobody is aware of for certain whether or not it’s actually their bones that lie within the graves. Take Chemin Laplace, flip left on Chemin des Anglais (the place you may see Adelaïde’s supposed tomb, #14), then head to level #15 within the 92nd Division.

The Erotic Tomb

A journalist for La Marseillaise, Victor Noir (1848-1870) died throughout a duel with Napoleon’s cousin. His tomb represents his stays simply after the struggle, and we are able to even see the outlet in his chest.

However this isn’t the very first thing to catch your eye about this tomb! For the sake of realism and honesty, the sculptor additionally reproduced the autopsy erection of poor Victor.

Victor Noir’s tomb grew to become an emblem of fertility (or different), and since then, girls have come to rub shoulders with this bronze penis to extend their probabilities of having youngsters. You’ll shortly discover the depigmentation of the colour.

And there you may have it, an alternate Père Lachaise strolling tour that covers a number of the mysteries and legends of probably the most well-known cemetery in Paris. We didn’t have the time to go to the tomb of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, or Marcel Proust, however we hope you had an excellent journey again in time!

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