This famous Parisian cemetery was named after Père François de La Chaise (1624-1709), Louis XIV’s confessor, who lived in the Jesuit house in 1682 on the site of the chapel. The cemetery was not officially established until 1804, when Napoléon lifted the ban on burying people in the city, which had been regarded a health hazard.

In its early years, Père-Lachaise was a poor district, with rampant crime in its streets. Now, however, the district is home to the 109-acre cemetery, which is full of decorative sculptures, as well-to-do families followed suit of each other in building these elaborate, artistic monuments. Many believed that the cemetery was too far from town for the public’s attention, but with marketing strategy of the Napoleonic government, planners transferred the bodies of writers La Fontaine and Molière, who were the first to be buried at the new cemetery in 1804, hence attracting others who wanted to be buried amidst the famous.

In the eastern part of the Père-Lachaise Cemetery is the Mur des Fédérés wall, where 147 resisting Communards were shot in 1871 and buried. The Communards were members of the 1871 Paris Commune, which was formed after the Franco-Prussian War. They took over the abandoned city for two months. The Versailles attacked them, and in just one week some 20,000 Communards were executed.

Tourists of all parts of the globe visit Le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise to see the famous grave sites of entertainers, such Edith Piaf, or American dancer Isadora Duncan, and actors Yves Montand, Simone Signoret and Sarah Bernhardt. Famous authors are also buried here: Marcel Proust, Honore de Balzac, Alfred de Musset, Guillaume Apollinaire, Gerard de Nerval, Alice B. Toklas and Richard Wright. Many artists, such as Eugene Delacroix, Camille Pissarro, Pierre Paul Prud'hon, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Gustave Caillebotte, glass sculptor Rene Lalique, Theodore Gericault and Max Ernst and famous composers Frederic Chopin and George Enescu are now resting at Père-Lachaise.

When visiting the Père-Lachaise Cemetery, be sure first to purchase a map, which is sold across from the cemetery, as well as by many vendors in the area.