Monday, 30 July 2012

Père Lachaise


A tourist site I’ve always been fascinated by is the famous Père Lachaise cemetery, mostly because it features prominently in a segment of one of my all-time favorite films, Paris je t’aime. Spanning 116 acres in the 20th arrondissement, it’s almost like a ghost town with its designated streets and elaborate tombs that resemble houses. I think it’s cool, but it took me a month of being here to find a group of people who also wanted to visit.

Established in 1804, Père Lachaise holds the remains of some of France’s most famous citizens. The cemetery is so large that you kind of have to plan out ahead of time which graves you want to see lest you want to be wandering aimlessly for hours.

My top 4 were:
- Georges Méliès (pioneer filmmaker; inspiration for the movie Hugo)
- Frédéric Chopin
- Édith Piaf
- Oscar Wilde

As depicted in Paris je t’aime, it’s tradition for female fans of Wilde’s work to bestow lipsticked kisses upon the gravestone. But at some point in the recent past I guess someone decided this wasn’t a good thing and erected a barrier around the tomb. As you can see, though, that didn’t really stop the fangirls.
While it was moving to pay my respects to some of the artists that have had such a strong influence in my life, it was even more poignant to see evidence of their lasting legacies - from fresh flowers and burning candles to handwritten notes. See the rest of my photos on Flickr.

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