Comments on: Walking Among the Dead at Père Lachaise Cemetery

By: Jaunting Jen

Jaunting Jen — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 03:13:22 +0000

When I visited there in 2008 there was a cat just hanging out right on top of Jim Morrison’s grave. I still have the photo. I wonder if he’s still hanging around there?

By: NomadicMatt

NomadicMatt — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 19:34:19 +0000

Paris would take a lifetime (or seven) to see so don’t worry. Think of it as another reason to go back.

By: NomadicMatt

NomadicMatt — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 19:33:56 +0000

In reply to madeleine zember. I've been there a couple of times. That's also very nice.

By: Kenneth

Kenneth — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 02:54:41 +0000

I’ve never been to Pere Lachaise but I love visiting cemeteries and going “grave hunting”. There’s beauty in death as I sit on a bench and ponder how life’s so fleeting. My favorite cemeteries so far has been the one in Austria (Zentralfriedhof) with all the famous composers together, the one in NYC (Greenwood), and Buenos Aires (Recoleta) where one can find some stunning mausoleums as well as Evita’s grave.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 16:38:50 +0000

I’m really glad you posted this, I love graveyards. And not because I have some morbid fascination, in fact I actually don’t see it as morbid at all. Those people had stories, like you said they had the same ups and downs, the same adventures and fears as us, and here in their final resting place their stories live on. I love Highgate Cemetery in London, I found it beautiful and peaceful. But I’m off to Paris in a couple of weeks so I’ll be adding this one to my list of to-do’s 😉

By: Tracy

Tracy — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 19:38:59 +0000

I too loved Père Lachaise. It is itself a monument to art, poetry, music, letters, courage, love, and the best in humanity. Those graves are there to inspire us who came along later to lead better lives.

I found a little country cemetery once whose massive entry gates were framed with the words “as you are, so once were we” and then on the exit gate “as we are, so shall you be”.
That quotation made me think that the dead ask only to be remembered and to have a continuing voice. Because of that, I don’t think it’s disrespectful to wander and wonder there unless one is intentionally dishonoring a memory or desecrating the place.

By: Gingko

Gingko — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 10:50:29 +0000

I would also add 2 cemeteries in Italy as well to this list. Staglieno Cemetery in Genoa,Italy and Cemitero Monumentale in Milan, Italy. Both have fantastic sculpture to be enjoyed by the living an grace the memory of the dead.

By: Jo

Jo — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 22:50:52 +0000

I love visiting cemeteries. It’s a fascinating reminder that people don’t stop being people just because they’re dead. Mausoleums reflect the people who reside in them, and it’s fun to imagine those people when they were alive. I always love the gaudy and ostentatious ones the best, I imagine the person in them would have been quite a character!

I haven’t been to Pere Lachaise, but I love the Cimiterio Monumentale in Milan and the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.

By: madeleine zember

madeleine zember — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 22:37:31 +0000

Very different article. Enjoyed it. The old Jewish cemetery in Prague is another one. When people go the cemeteries usually it is out of duty and when they are sad so they do not pay attention to little details.
In Pinelawn, the cemetery in Long Island NY, the Jewish section is divided into streets which are named after many important figures and places that one can learn a lot of history from them.

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 04:40:43 +0000

I have to say I disagree. The dead are not a sideshow, they are remembered by the people who visit them. I read the epitaghs and wonder about what their life was like. If I was buried I would hope that people would visit my grave site. I love visiting cemeteries when I travel, it gives you an insight into the culture of the country and I find them reflective and quite beautiful.