Cimetière du Père-Lachaise

The Cimetière du Père-Lachaise is defined by its hilly, park-like landscape filled with over seventy thousand tombs and densely planted, winding avenues. Spanning forty-four hectares in the twentieth arrondissement, this is the largest municipal cemetery in Paris. It opened in eighteen oh four after city officials sought to solve the problem of overcrowded urban churchyards. Initially, the site was unpopular because it sat on the outskirts of the city in a working-class neighborhood, and few Parisians wished to be buried there.