Montmartre Cemetery

The Cemetery of Montmartre (French: Cimetière de Montmartre) is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis in Paris, after the Père Lachaise Cemetery and the Montparnasse Cemetery.

History

In the mid-18th century, overcrowding in the cemeteries of Paris had created numerous problems, from impossibly high funeral costs to unsanitary living conditions in the surrounding neighborhoods. In the 1780s, the Cimetière des Innocents was officially closed and citizens were banned from burying corpses within the city limits of Paris. During the early 19th century, new cemeteries were constructed outside the precincts of the capital: Montmartre in the north, Père Lachaise Cemetery in the east, Passy Cemetery in the west and Montparnasse Cemetery in the south.

The Montmartre Cemetery was opened on 1 January 1825. It was initially known as le Cimetière des Grandes Carrières (Cemetery of the Large Quarries).[1] The name referenced the cemetery's unique location, in an abandoned gypsum quarry. The quarry had previously been used during the French Revolution as a mass grave. It was built below street level, in the hollow of an abandoned gypsum quarry located west of the Butte near the beginning of Rue Caulaincourt in Place de Clichy. As is still the case today, its sole entrance was constructed on Avenue Rachel under Rue Caulaincourt.[2]

A popular tourist destination, Montmartre Cemetery is the final resting place of many famous artists who lived and worked in the Montmartre area. See the full list of notable interments below.

The Montmartre Cemetery with the Rue Caulaincourt viaduct passing through it

A

B

C

Henri-Georges Clouzot's grave

D

Tomb of Edgar Degas
The tomb of Alexandre Dumas, fils

F

Renée Jeanne Falconetti

G

Grave of Jean Léon Gérôme, Aimé Morot and family (Cimetière de Montmartre, 18th division)

H

Heinrich Heine

I

Daniel Iffla
  • Daniel Iffla (1825–1907), Jewish philanthropist and financier

J

K

Statue on the tomb of Miecislas Kamieński

L

Margaret Kelly Leibovici

M

N

Tombstone of Vaslav Nijinsky in Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris. The statue shows Nijinsky as the puppet Petrouchka.

O

Tomb of Jacques Offenbach.

P

R

S

Tomb of Stendhal

T

François Truffaut

V

W

Z

  • Émile Zola (1840–1902), author (original site, moved to the Panthéon in 1908). The Zola family grave is still there, with Émile's name on it.

See also

References

  1. ^ Waldman, Benjamin. "The Treasures of the Montmartre Cemetery". untapped cities. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Montmartre cemetery". Mairie de Paris. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  3. ^ a b Allée Montmorency, concession no. 408/1853. See Tamvaco, Jean-Louis (2000). "Dabadie / Leroux [les]", pp. 919–921, in Les Cancans de l'Opéra: Chroniques de l'Académie Royale de Musique et du théâtre, à Paris sous les deux Restaurations. CNRS. 1307 pages. OCLC 1063925895. ISBN 2271057426.
  4. ^ Baxter, John (2011–2012). Chronicles of Old Paris: Exploring the Historic City of Light. New York: Museyon. p. 227.
  5. ^ "Ольга Иосифовна Преображенская (Olga Preobrajenska)". Belcanto.ru. 27 December 1962. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  6. ^ Arnold Lionel Haskell. The Ballet annual: a record and year book of the ballet: Vol. 18, 1963
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