The+Pere+Lachaise+Cemetery

The Pere Lachaise Cemetery was opened to the public on May 21, 1804. The cemetery was opened because of the demands by Napoleon. He said “every citizen has the right to be buried regardless of race or religion.” The first grave that was placed in the cemetery is no longer standing as it was part of a temporary concession.

When the cemetery opened, citizens considered it to be much too far from the city, therefore it attracted very few funerals. Another reason the cemetery was somewhat unpopular was because the Roman Catholics refused to have their bodies buried in a cemetery that had not been blessed by the church. Later in 1804, when the cemetery decided to transfer Jean de La Fontaine’s, a famous French poets remains to their location, the amount of funerals increased highly. The cemetery began transferring more famous remains and the amounts of burials increased by quite a bit. Within a few years the cemetery went from containing a dozen or so bodies to more than 33,000, the famous remains had a huge impact.

Today, the cemetery holds over one million bodies and the remains of those who were cremated as well. Throughout time, many celebrities, famous artists, authors and many other well known figures in history have been laid to rest in the cemetery due to its fame. The cemetery would be such a cool experience to be able to have on this trip. It would give us such an amazing sense of history and how it unraveled even through death. I would love to visit this place and get a feel for Paris in a whole new way.