Tour · 7 stops · ~2 hours
Père Lachaise Highlights
Seven famous graves, in a sensible order.
The cemetery's grid is famously confusing — divisions are numbered out of sequence and the printed maps at the entrance are sometimes wrong. This route takes the easiest paths from grave to grave; about 2 km of walking inside the cemetery itself, plus the trudge from the métro.
Through the20e · Belleville & Ménilmontant
- 1
Main entrance, Boulevard de Ménilmontant
Père Lachaise opened in 1804 as Napoleon's solution to overcrowded city cemeteries. To attract Parisians, the administration moved La Fontaine and Molière here in 1817 — celebrity remains as a marketing stunt.
Pick up the free map from the conservation office just inside the gate, on the right. It marks every grave by division number — you'll need it. From the main gate, walk straight up Avenue Principale.
48.85950, 2.39400
- 2
Frédéric Chopin (division 11)
Buried 1849. The marble muse Euterpe weeps over a broken lyre. Chopin's heart is not here — at his request it was smuggled to Warsaw and is sealed inside a pillar of Holy Cross Church.
From the main gate, walk up Avenue Principale to the round-about Carrefour du Grand Rond, then take Avenue Casimir Périer to the left. Chopin's grave is small and almost always has fresh flowers.
48.86150, 2.39330
- 3
Jim Morrison (division 6)
Died in his Marais apartment, July 1971; the cause is officially heart failure but unofficially much else. His grave used to be a pilgrimage site, with the bust stolen, the surrounding graves vandalised, and a security guard now permanently posted.
From Chopin, double back to the round-about and take Chemin Molière toward division 6. The grave is fenced off — don't try to climb in. Look for the tree just behind it where fans tape notes; the cemetery removes them weekly.
48.86120, 2.39550
- 4
Marcel Proust (division 85)
Polished black-marble slab, surprisingly modest for the author of À la recherche du temps perdu. Proust died in 1922 of pneumonia after refusing to stop working in his cork-lined room; the manuscript wasn't finished.
Head east through the cemetery. Division 85 is in the upper-eastern section — a steep climb. Look for the family name GOMEZ-ADAMS engraved nearby; Proust's grave is two rows behind it.
48.85960, 2.39610
- 5
Édith Piaf (division 97)
Family plot, marked with a black-granite cross. Piaf died in 1963 at 47 — the funeral procession blocked Paris traffic, and the Catholic Church refused her a religious service because of her tumultuous private life.
Continue south through division 96 toward the eastern wall. The grave is right at the perimeter and is almost always covered in fresh flowers and small notes.
48.85940, 2.39700
6Mur des Fédérés
The wall against which the last 147 Communards were lined up and shot on 28 May 1871, ending the Paris Commune. They're buried in a mass grave at the foot of the wall. Annual march on the Sunday closest to the date.
From Piaf, follow the eastern boundary path south. The wall is plain stone, with a single inscription and usually a small bouquet. Sit on the bench across from it for a moment — it's the quietest spot in the cemetery.
From Wikipedia›
The Communards’ Wall at the Père Lachaise cemetery is where 147 Commune soldiers along with another 19 officers were executed on May 28, 1871, during the Semaine sanglante, the suppression of the Paris Commune. The soldiers were buried in a common grave at the foot of the wall.
Read more on Wikipedia →48.86010, 2.39790
- 7
Oscar Wilde (division 89)
Jacob Epstein's 1914 modernist tomb — a winged sphinx defaced for decades by lipstick kisses. The cemetery installed a glass barrier in 2011; you can still touch the glass but the marble underneath is finally safe.
Walk back west toward the main entrance via Avenue Carette. Division 89 is signposted. The kisses are now on the glass — adding one is permitted; lipstick on the marble itself is a fine.
48.86060, 2.39350