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The Secret Life of a Cemetery celebrates the iconic Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Written by Benoît Gallot, who has served as its head conservator since 2018, this concise volume is packed with intriguing tidbits about the 110-acre site, which is home to a myriad of burial plots.
Père Lachaise attracts significant “tombstone tourism,” drawing approximately 10,000 visitors daily who come to pay their respects to about 4,500 notable figures interred there. Gallot has aptly termed this site “an open-air Who’s Who.” Among the most visited is the grave of Jim Morrison, the frontman of The Doors, who was laid to rest there in 1971 at just 27 years old. Other famous burials include those of iconic singer Edith Piaf, composer Fredéric Chopin, writer Marcel Proust, and playwright Honoré de Balzac. Oscar Wilde’s resting place is also a major attraction, partly due to the provocative funerary statue of a flying sphinx that marks his grave. When this sculpture was unveiled over a decade after his death, controversy arose due to its design, and there are anecdotes suggesting that two shocked English women were responsible for its alteration. Gallot humorously refutes the legend that the statue’s components have been used as paperweights by later conservators.
With the influx of visitors, security remains a pressing issue. Morrison’s grave has experienced such unruly behavior that a protective fence was installed around it in 2004. In a recent unwelcome trend, tourists have taken to sticking chewing gum on a nearby tree, which is now shielded by protective bamboo.
Gallot emphasizes that while Père Lachaise captivates onlookers, filmmakers, and taphophiles (enthusiasts of epitaphs), its foremost purpose is to serve as an active cemetery—a sanctuary for the mourners. The site accommodates roughly 3,000 new inhabitants each year, nearly 2,000 of whom are cremated at the cemetery’s facilities. Ashes may be placed in niches within the columbarium or scattered in the designated Memorial Green. Remaining bodies are laid to rest in family plots or in openings resulting from expired “concessions,” a system established by Napoleon I in 1804 that allows for temporary burial rights, a marked improvement over the unhygienic mass graves of the past.
Originally named the Cemetery of the East, Pere Lachaise was the first to adhere to Napoleon’s standards. Designed by architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, it was created on the grounds of a former Jesuit retreat and the home of Father Francis d’Aix de La Chaize, who was the confessor to Louis XIV. Brongniart’s vision aimed to preserve the natural beauty of the Charonne hillside, setting a precedent for future rural cemeteries. The cemetery underwent five expansions, the latest in 1850, and currently holds around 1.3 million graves and 4,000 trees.
Initially seeking something akin to Patrick Bringley’s memoir, All the Beauty in the World, which offers a rich insider’s perspective of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I found Gallot’s straightforward writing more focused on the practical aspects of this historic location rather than its underlying spirit. Having roots in a family of gravestones in Bray-sur-Seine, Gallot transitioned from a law career to the death care industry. He recalls how friends humorously mocked his choice of profession, but he expresses pride in the diverse responsibilities of his role and the benefits of raising his children in a space he describes as an “open-air museum” adorned with stunning statues and mausoleums.
His enthusiasm for the natural resurgence since the banning of pesticides in 2015 is palpable—he regards Père Lachaise not merely as a resting place but as a flourishing ecosystem teeming with local flora and fauna. Gallot’s photographs, which beautifully illustrate the cemetery’s hidden wildlife, have gained popularity on Instagram during the pandemic, with many included in black-and-white format in the English edition. The French version boasts full-color images and an annotated map, presenting a more charming experience overall.
Gallot humorously contemplates placing a QR code linking to his Instagram account on his grave for future admirers, playfully blending humor and art in the contemplation of mortality.
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