Tour · 6 stops · ~90 min
Père Lachaise (alternative graves)
Beyond Morrison and Wilde.
Père Lachaise's six most famous graves draw 95% of the visitors. This route hits six others worth at least as much: a poet, a composer, a painter, an actress, a 19th-century medium, and a novelist. About 1.5 km inside the cemetery.
Through the20e · Belleville & Ménilmontant
- 1
Théodore Géricault (division 12)
Painter of The Raft of the Medusa (1819) — at the time the most controversial painting in France. Died at 32 in a riding accident. His tomb is a bronze relief of the Raft itself, mounted to a stone pedestal.
Division 12 is on the south-western side of the cemetery, easy to find from the main gate. The Raft relief is the photograph; the original painting is at the Louvre.
→Walk north-east through the avenues. Division 44 is in the central area — Allan Kardec is signposted (this is the second-most-visited grave after Morrison's).
48.86000, 2.39350
- 2
Allan Kardec (division 44)
Founder of Spiritism (1857) — the doctrine that the dead can be communicated with through mediums. His grave is constantly covered in fresh flowers; visitors place a hand on the bust at the front and make a wish. The most-visited grave in the cemetery after Morrison's.
Look for the small dolmen-like stone canopy with the bronze bust. The crowd is part of the experience — there's almost always someone in quiet meditation. Take a photograph of the tributes, not the face.
→Walk north along the central avenue. Sarah Bernhardt's grave is also in division 44, just a few rows away.
48.86020, 2.39530
- 3
Sarah Bernhardt (division 44)
The most famous actress in the world for forty years (1870s–1910s). Played Hamlet on stage at age 55. Died 1923; the grave is a simple polished black-stone slab inscribed only "Sarah Bernhardt" — her wish.
The grave is far simpler than you'd expect for someone who once owned a pet leopard and slept in a coffin (publicity stunt). The simplicity is the point. Look for the regular fresh roses left by theatre-people.
→Walk east through the central path. Bizet is in division 68 — uphill, along Avenue Transversale numéro 1.
48.86030, 2.39580
- 4
Georges Bizet (division 68)
Composer of Carmen (1875), which premiered three months before his death and was initially considered a flop. Died at 36 of a heart attack, possibly precipitated by the bad reviews. The opera is now the second-most performed in the world.
The grave is a bust in profile on a small pedestal, surrounded by ivy. Quiet stop; rarely visitors. From here, walk eastward to find Apollinaire — division 86 is in the upper-eastern section.
→Long walk east, mostly uphill. Division 86 is at the back of the cemetery — about 10 minutes if you stay on the main avenues.
48.86070, 2.39630
- 5
Guillaume Apollinaire (division 86)
Avant-garde poet (1880–1918). Coined the words "surrealism" and "cubism". Died of Spanish flu, weakened by a head wound from World War I. His tomb is unique in the cemetery — a rough-hewn dolmen-style monument designed by Picasso, with two of Apollinaire's calligrams (poems shaped like images) carved into the stone.
Division 86 is at the eastern wall, uphill from most of the cemetery. The Picasso-designed gravestone is unmissable — looks like a roughly shaped natural rock. Read the heart-shaped calligram "Mon coeur pareil à une flamme renversée" cut into the stone.
→Walk back south-west toward the main entrance. Balzac is in division 48, a short detour from the main path.
48.85970, 2.39700
- 6
Honoré de Balzac (division 48)
The novelist of La Comédie humaine (94 finished works, planned 137). Died 1850 from coffee poisoning, more or less — he drank up to fifty cups a day for decades. His grave is a column topped by a bronze bust by sculptor David d'Angers.
From the bust, walk fifty metres further south to the simpler grave of his wife Eveline Hańska — they were married for less than five months before Balzac died. End the route here and exit via the main gate.
48.86020, 2.39450