Selected Bibliography of Paris

Cemeteries

These guides help visitors locate the graves of famous persons (French and foreign-born) buried in and around Paris. With maps and b/w illustrations, they suggest walking tours through the three largest cemeteries (Père Lachaise, Montparnasse, and Montmartre) and most of the smaller ones as well, in addition to indicating tombs and memorials in churches, public spaces, and other sites. Exact locations for finding tombs of writers, artists, politicians. humanists, musicians and other celebrities are provided. Both books are selective in who they list. Visitors should also check the main office of each cemetery; many provide maps marked with the graves of the famous.

Most of the cemeteries are in a park-like setting and many tombs have been carved by famous sculptors. Memorials to the Holocaust victims are particularly abundant in Père Lachaise. A visit to these cemeteries is worthwhile to see the differences and similarities between French and other country cemeteries, gravemarkers and mourning practices.

Le Clere, Marcel. Guide des Cimetières de Paris. Paris: Hachette 1990. 223 pages. In French. [In addition to covering the three largest cemeteries, this guide also provides information about smaller ones: Intra-Muros and Extra- Muros. Additional chapters: Sépultures subsistant dans les eglises actuelle de Paris;tombeaux des les édifices publics; monuments funéraires insoupc,onnes; de quelques sépultures illustres des environs de Paris. Separate indexes to deceased mentioned in text and to the sculptors who carved the tombs].

Culbertson, Judi and Tom Randall. Permanent Parisians: An illustrated Guide to the Cemeteries of Paris. Chelsea(VT):Chelsea Green Publishing, 1986. 230 pages. [Besides the big three cemeteries, the guide has chapters on tombs in the Panthéon, St. Denis, the Catacombs, Les Invalides, St. Etienne du Mont, La Chapelle Expiatiore, St. Germain des Prés, as well as smaller cemeteries at Passy, St. Vincent, and several suburban cemeteries. Brief biographical details are provided for those mentioned. Name index to those deceased who are cited in the text].