Private Père Lachaise Tour | Famous Graves and Historic Monuments
Enjoy the peace, tranquillity, and sombre beauty of Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris’s lovely and leafy 20th arrondissement – often hailed as the new Montmartre. Père Lachaise is a historic cemetery, founded by Napoleon on the grounds of an old monastery headed up by a priest named Father la Chaise – who was the private confessor of the Sun King Louis XIV.
On your 2.5-hour walking tour, you will explore this vast and beautiful place, filled with thousands of graves, stopping by some of the most famous occupants like Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Heloise and Abelard, Edith Piaf, and Jim Morrison! You’ll learn a lot about the history of Paris and the way of life and death of Parisians.
- Explore the quietly beautiful Père Lachaise Cemetery with a private guide
- See the graves of many famous people who died in Paris, and the Holocaust Memorials
- Admire the grand and eerie gothic styles of the graves
- Learn about why Napoleon created the cemetery and the history of funerals in Paris
- Hear about the lives of Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Gericho – and many more
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Explore the beautiful Père Lachaise Cemetery on this private 2.5-hour walking tour through the peaceful, cobblestone lanes of graves, and learn about the many famous people who are buried here. You will meet your expert guide at the entrance, and explore the highlights of this 110-acre sight.
Due to the overcrowding of cemeteries in central Paris, many graveyards had been dug up and closed down during the 18th century. The remains of the dead were taken underground to the Paris catacombs. To prevent the smell, hygiene problems, and overcrowding again, Napoleon Bonaparte created Père Lachaise Cemetery – on a beautiful hill that had been a monastery and vineyard, where lived the priest Father la Chaise. It is situated well away from the city center in the 20th arrondissement – which at the time was less than fashionable.
Because of its location, he had to find a way to encourage Parisians to want to be buried here. So, he had the remains of some famous French people exhumed and reburied: Moliere the playwright, La Fontaine – the writer of fables, Parmentier – the scientist who made famous the humble potato, and the iconic medieval lovers: Heloise and Abelard, real-life French Romeo and Juliet! It worked. People wanted to be buried next to these famous people – it was like wanting to be buried next to Shakespeare in England or Elvis Presley in America. And so the cemetery grew and grew.
Today it is still an active cemetery with over 70,000 burials. You’ll see lots of graves of famous people, and if you have any particular must-sees, please feel free to ask your guide to take you there. Out of the huge number of luminaries buried at Pere Lachaise you may see the graves of Gericho, Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, Edith Piaf, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Balzac, the somewhat infamous tomb of Victor Noir, and of course the most famous grave in the whole place, Jim Morrison of the Doors.
- 2.5 hour walking tour of Père Lachaise Cemetery
- Private guide
- Stories of the lives of famous graves
- Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Piaf and more
- Holocaust Memorials
- Crematorium
- Due to the cemetery’s lack of accessibility infrastructure, amount of steps, and uneven terrain, this tour is not wheelchair friendly nor suitable for anyone with mobility issues
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