Père Lachaise Cemetery

Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France (44 hectares (110 acres) though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs. Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world's most visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the graves of those who have enhanced French life over the past 200 years. It is also the site of three World War I memorials.

The cemetery is on Boulevard de Ménilmontant. The Paris Métro station Philippe Auguste on line 2 is next to the main entrance, while the station called Père Lachaise, on both lines 2 and 3, is 500 metres away near a side entrance. Many tourists prefer the Gambetta station on line 3, as it allows them to enter near the tomb of Oscar Wilde and then walk downhill to visit the rest of the cemetery.

Père Lachaise is still an operating cemetery and accepting new burials. However, the rules to be buried in a Paris cemetery are rather strict: people may be buried in one of these cemeteries if they die in the French capital city or if they lived there. Being buried in Père Lachaise is even more difficult nowadays as there is a waiting list: very few plots are available. The gravesites at Père Lachaise range from a simple, unadorned headstone to towering monuments and even elaborate mini chapels dedicated to the memory of a well-known person or family. A lot of the tombs are about the size and shape of a phone booth, with just enough space for a mourner to step inside, kneel to say a prayer, and leave some flowers.

Oscar Wilde's Grave

Edith Piaf's Grave

Jim Morrison's Grave

Dedications to Jim Morrison on a tree next to his grave

The cemetery manages to squeeze an increasing number of bodies into a finite and already crowded space. One way it does this is by combining the remains of multiple family members in the same grave. At Père Lachaise, it is not uncommon to reopen a grave after a body has decomposed and inter another coffin. Some family mausoleums or multi-family tombs contain dozens of bodies, often in several separate but contiguous graves. Shelves are usually fitted out to accommodate them.

Tribute to Flight AF447

In relatively recent times, Père Lachaise has adopted a standard practice of issuing 30-year leases on gravesites, so that if a lease is not renewed by the family, the remains can be removed, space made for a new grave, and the overall deterioration of the cemetery minimized. Abandoned remains are boxed, tagged and moved to Aux Morts ossuary, in Père Lachaise cemetery. Plots can be bought in perpetuity, for 50, 30 or 10 years, the last being the least expensive option. Even in the case of mausoleums and chapels, coffins are most of the time below ground.

There are a large number of famous people buried at Père Lachaise cemetery including Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Stephane Grappelli, Marcel Marceau, Jim Morrison, Michel Petrucciani and Gioachino Rossini.

Cryptic Message

It's Halloween so a picture of a graveyard is entirely appropriate. This lovely old cemetery in the centre of Georgetown in Penang is interesting to wander through and has a large range of differently designed tombstones. I like the cryptic epitaph written on this headstone:

Erected by his shipmates and friends
Father in thy gracious keeping
Leave we now thy servant sleeping

Have a great Halloween.

Epitaph

An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial. An epitaph may be in poem verse; poets have been known to compose their own epitaphs prior to their death, as W.B. Yeats did.

Most epitaphs are brief records of the family, and perhaps the career, of the deceased, often with an expression of love or respect - "beloved father of ..." - but others are more ambitious. From the Renaissance to the 19th century in Western culture, epitaphs for notable people became increasingly lengthy and pompous descriptions of their family origins, career, virtues and immediate family, often in Latin. However, the Laudatio Turiae, the longest known Ancient Roman epitaph exceeds almost all of these at 180 lines; it celebrates the virtues of a wife, probably of a consul.

Some are quotes from holy texts, or aphorisms. An approach of many epitaphs is to 'speak' to the reader and warn them about their own mortality. A wry trick of others is to request the reader to get off their resting place, as often it would require the reader to stand on the ground above the coffin to read the inscription. Some record achievements, (e.g. past politicians note the years of their terms of office) but nearly all (excepting those where this is impossible, including theTomb of the Unknown Soldier) note name, year or date of birth and date of death. Many list family and their relation to them; such as Father / Mother / Son / Daughter etc. of.


Notable Epitaphs

Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing bythat here, obedient to their law, we lie.

— Simonides's epigram at Thermopylae

I am ready to meet my Maker.Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

— Winston Churchill

To save your world you asked this man to die:Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?

— Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier, written by W. H. Auden

Against you I will fling myself, unvanquished and unyielding, O Death!

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,

— Virginia Woolf

To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.

— William Shakespeare

I told you I was ill.

— Spike Milligan

That's all folks.

— Mel Blanc

If anyone at my funeral has a long face, I'll never speak to him again.

— Stan Laurel

Consider, friend, as you pass by: As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, you too shall be. Prepare, therefore, to follow me.

— Scottish tombstone epitaph

Six Feet Under

These rows of old headstones are in an Christian graveyard in central Kuala Lumpur known as the Birch Road Cemetery. This cemetery has a very large Chinese section but this older part of the cemetery was retained as a Christian burial area. I like the rundown and delapidated feel of this graveyard which adds a very atmospheric feeling to your photos particularly with all the overgrown, lush undergrowth and tropical plants which are obviously thriving on the rich nutrients of the soil!

Kwong Tong Cemetery

The Kwong Tong Cemetery is a Chinese cemetery located in central Kuala Lumpur which covers around 343 acres and houses the largest number and oldest graves in the city. It has been in existence for 112 years and is the final resting place of the prominent city pioneer Yap Ah Loy.

In 2007 the Kwong Tong Cemetery was renamed “Heritage Park” and landscaping turned the park into one of the few city’s “green lungs”. In addition a cultural museum was built housing a comprehensive collection of information related to the prominent Chinese pioneers.

Rest in Peace

There's a strange air of peace and tranquility in a cemetery. Even in the heart of a bustling city such as Paris a few steps into the grounds of the Montparnasse Cemetery provides a reflective environment to ponder life, death and of course photography. Interesting shapes and designs of tombstones provide a wonderful opportunity for interesting photos.