A few days ago it was 50 years since the leader of the rock band, Jim Morrison, was found dead in the bathtub of his apartment located in the Le Marais neighborhood in the French capital, Paris. The rock icon of the 60s ended up in one of the city’s cemeteries , but not just any one. Morrison was buried in Père-Lachaise, one of the most famous cemeteries in the world for having the honor of having famous celebrities resting in its enclosure.
This Parisian cemetery has long been much more than a place to bury the dead. Père-Lachaise has become a place of pilgrimage for tourists who come to the monument to see what famous people are buried there, or to say their last goodbye to some of these illustrious people who fill the Parisian holy field.
To get an idea that Père-Lachaise is not just any cemetery, you just have to look at its visit data, which show figures that many monuments would like. It is estimated that more than 3 million tourists pass through the cemetery , the oldest in France built in the east of the city and conceived, for the first time in history, as a cemetery and park.
Famous celebrities
Jim Morrison is one of the most visited celebrities resting in the French cemetery, but he is not the only name. Next to him rest other musicians, writers, politicians, composers, filmmakers and an endless number of well-known names that give an unusual prestige to a cemetery.
Among the most illustrious names we find:
– Oscar Wilde : the English writer and poet, retired to France when he got out of jail after being convicted of having a romantic relationship with another man. The writer died alone and under another name. His grave is one of the most visited in the cemetery and in the world.
– Honore Balzac: another writer, realist in this case, who composed one of the most important works of world literature: ‘The Human Comedy’.
– Modigliani: painter and sculptor close to expressionism who marked a before and after in the art of the nude as a recurring theme.
– Edith Piaf: one of the most famous French singers in all of history. He is one of the most beloved characters in the cemetery.
– Manuel Godoy: Spanish politician who was very important during the reign of Carlos IV. He was the one who signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau that led to the invasion of Spain by Napoleon. He had to go into exile to France.
