Cemetery Montparnasse (Cimetiere du Montparnasse) description and photos - France: Paris (Topic)

Montparnasse Cemetery (Cimetiere du Montparnasse) description and photos - France: Paris. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Cimetiere du Montparnasse.

Photo and description

The Montparnasse Cemetery, located in the eponymous southern district of Paris, rather resembles not a burial place, but a city park - they walk here, they freely pass through the cemetery, "cutting corners". Its size is small, its fame is much more significant.

The cemetery in this part of the city appeared in 1824 and was initially called the South. In the first decades of its existence, it did not stand out in anything special. However, since the end of the 19th century, the Montparnasse quarter, due to the cheapness of life, has become unusually attractive for poor artists, sculptors, and writers. The names of many of them became known, and the ashes of a world celebrity were already buried in the local cemetery. Soon the cemetery became a prestigious resting place - not only cultural figures, but also famous politicians and scientists began to be buried here.

That is why the list of names carved on the gravestones of Montparnasse is so diverse. Iranian Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiyar, Mexican President Porfirio Diaz, ideologist of Ukrainian independence Simon Petliura, founder of the largest French automobile company Andre Citroen are lying nearby. And nearby - mathematician Gustave Coriolis, encyclopedist Pierre Larousse, poet Charles Baudelaire, writers Guy de Maupassant and Jean-Paul Sartre, chess player Alexander Alekhine.

Monuments in the cemetery are often quite unusual. Here is the tombstone over the grave of the inventor of the gas lamp, Charles Pigeon: under this very lamp, on a bronze bed sculpted in every detail, the inventor's wife is sleeping, Dude himself is reading a book nearby.

Cemetery traditions are just as unusual. At the grave of Serge Gainsbourg, "French Vysotsky", admirers of the bard, the actor and director bring cigarettes and lighters. In addition, cabbage heads always lie on the tombstone - it is believed that Ginsbourg's head resembled this vegetable.

The cemetery fully plays the role of a city park: mothers with strollers always walk here in good weather, clerks from neighboring offices , sitting on the benches, snack on sandwiches. We also took care of the tourists: you can get a free plan of the cemetery in the guard house at the entrance.

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Topic: Cemetery Montparnasse (Cimetiere du Montparnasse) description and photos - France: Paris.