Famous graves at Père Lachaise

1873–1954 · Writers

The first French woman given a state funeral, in a black slab near the main avenue.

1809–1891 · Political figures

The prefect who rebuilt Paris, in a family vault a short walk from the gate he never demolished.

1841–1899 · Political figures

A President of the Republic under a draped bronze flag, remembered mostly for how he died.

1830–1903 · Artists

The oldest of the Impressionists, in a family plot near the lower avenues.

1791–1824 · Artists

A bronze of the artist reclining, with a relief of the Raft of the Medusa beneath him.

1798–1857 · Science and ideas

The founder of positivism, whose grave is still tended by his own tiny church.

1790–1832 · Science and ideas

An obelisk, for the man who read the Rosetta Stone and died at 41.

1844–1923 · Stage and screen

A plain granite slab, at odds with everything else about her.

1804–1869 · Writers

The codifier of Spiritism, under a dolmen that receives more flowers than almost any grave here.

1921–1985 · 1921–1991 · Stage and screen

Together under one modest stone, a few paces from Sarah Bernhardt.

1798–1863 · Artists

A severe black sarcophagus, modelled on a Roman tomb at his own instruction.

1748–1825 · Artists

Only his heart is here — the body stayed in Brussels, where he died in exile for having voted to execute a king.

1861–1938 · Stage and screen

A bust of the film-maker who was selling toys in a Montparnasse kiosk by the end.

1859–1891 · Artists

In the family vault, dead at 31 of an illness nobody has since identified with confidence.

1880–1918 · Writers

A menhir-like stone cut by Picasso's design, carrying one of his own calligrammes.

1877–1927 · Stage and screen

A named niche in Formigé's columbarium, a few steps from Maria Callas's old one.

1923–1977 · Musicians

A memorial niche only: her ashes were removed in 1979 and scattered in the Aegean Sea.

1884–1920 · Artists

Buried with Jeanne Hébuterne, who was moved here a year later at her family's eventual consent.