15 Famous People Buried In Père Lachaise Cemetery

Do you want to know some famous people buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery? Here’s a list of graves of famous people in and outside of France.

The Père Lachaise is Paris’ largest cemetery at 44 hectares, containing 70,000 burial plots and over 1 million interments. It is also the largest park in the city, as well as the first garden cemetery in the world.

No doubt one of the most popular tourist attractions in Paris, this cemetery is frequented by visitors for the artistry of its graves as well as the notable figures that make the fascinating graveyard their final resting places.

With over 3.5 million visitors per year, Père Lachaise Cemetery is hailed as the most-visited necropolis on the planet. This doesn’t come as a surprise, considering the famous cemetery’s artistic tombs and memorials, which are exquisite examples of funerary art that add to the cemetery’s aesthetic appeal.

The rolling hills and winding cobblestone lanes make the Père Lachaise a great place for a walk, with an astounding extraordinary variety of plants. This cemetery is home to more than 5,000 trees, including a century-old maple that’s around 40 feet high.

But before we move along, let’s delve a little into the history of this famous cemetery first, which began in the end of the 18th century – a time when burial space in the French capital was at a premium.

In addition, Parisian officials were worried about the possible spreading of disease from the overcrowded cemeteries. This resulted in the establishment of a municipal cemetery in the area.

French architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart was responsible for the cemetery’s layout as we know it today. Situated in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, the Père Lachaise was opened in 1804 on Napoleon’s order.

It was named after King Louis XIV’s confessor, Père François d’Aix de la Chaise, who lived on the site in the 1600s. Its original name was simply Cimetière de I’East (East Cemetery).

At the time of its opening, Père Lachaise only had 13 tombs. To attract more funerals, the cemetery’s administrators had the remains of two famous citizens of Paris – Molière and Jean de la Fontaine – transferred to the Père Lachaise in 1817. To this day, their graves remain among the most popular ones visited by tourists.

In case you’re wondering, the Père Lachaise is still an operating cemetery. And yes, it still accepts new burials. There are rules now, however, that you might want to know about in the event that you’d like to be buried there – or in any Paris cemetery, for that matter. You may be buried in a Parisian cemetery only if you lived in the French capital or die there.

Famous People Buried In Père Lachaise Cemetery

The list of famous individuals buried in the Père Lachaise is pretty lengthy, including 75 painters, 40 singers, 40 composers, and a whole lot more, ranging from writers and directors to scientists and inventors.

Suffice it to say, picking which ones to include in an article this short proves quite a challenge. But the graves of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and Frédéric Chopin are arguably the most visited in the cemetery.

If you’re in Paris right now or planning on visiting soon, do not miss the chance to admire Père Lachaise’s haunting beauty firsthand and pay your respect to some of its famous eternal residents.

You should allot at least two full hours to visit the Père Lachaise. The place is so beautiful with so many famous names you will see engraved on the tombstones that you might want to stay longer.

You can get the cemetery plan to see the locations of the famous graves from the entrance. No entry fees are collected.

All right, let’s jump into our handpicked list of the 15 famous people buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.

1. Frédéric Chopin

Famous for his expressive piano playing and compositions from Etudes to Nocturnes, Frédéric  Chopin was the first genius of his kind to devote himself exclusively to the piano instrument.

Chopin’s grave contains his body, but his heart is buried in Poland. He was so scared of being buried alive that he asked for his heart to be removed upon his death – just to make sure.

2. Jim Morrison

Hands down the most popular grave in the Père Lachaise is Jim Morrison’s – a true rock star both in life and in death.

Every year on the anniversary of his death (July 3), legions of fans come to pay their respects to the American singer who died in Paris in 1971.

Morrison was the ultra charming front man and predominant lyricist of the psychedelic rock group the Doors. He is often regarded as one of the most charismatic singers in the history of rock music.

3. Oscar Wilde

Known for his 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and plays Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), Irish author Oscar Wilde spent the last three years of his life exiled in France. He was disowned by his country of birth for the crime of gay sex.

Wilde’s tomb in the Père Lachaise is adorned by a stone angel with huge outstretched wings. His fans have covered his forever resting place with lipstick kisses and graffiti conveying messages of love.

4. Molière

French playwright, actor, and poet Molière was born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin to a well-respected merchant family. He changed his name to spare them the embarrassment his chosen career path would incur. It was the age when the life of the theater was not something your parents would be proud of.

Molière’s tomb has been lying side by side with Jean de La Fontaine since 1817. However, rumors say that it may not actually be the bones of Molière and La Fontaine that are buried under the headstones.

5. Jean de la Fontaine

Jean de La Fontaine is one of the most important French poets of the 17th century. He is best-known for his Fables, which inspired many fabulists across Europe.

La Fontaine’s fables are considered great classics of French literature.

6. Honoré de Balzac

Honoré de Balzac’s most famous work is the huge collection of his short stories and novels – The Human Comedy, which remained unfinished at the time of his death. He is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature, influencing writers of his time and beyond.

Along with Proust, Balzac is hailed as the greatest French writer of all time.

Balzac’s remains have been lying in Père Lachaise Cemetery since 1850.

7. Marcel Proust

A famous French writer in the early 20th century, Marcel Proust is the author of the longest novel in the world – In Search of Lost Time. Consisting of over 1.26 million words, it is twice longer than Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

Proust coined the term “involuntary memory” in Remembrance of Things Past, describing a sensory déjà vu that happens when a memory is triggered by a smell, a taste, or a sound. We call it the “Proust effect.”

READ MORE: Interesting Facts About Marcel Proust

8. Édith Piaf

Her chanson (French ballad) made Édith Piaf famous all over the world. Her singing could be heard everywhere at the front line of the World War II.

Dubbed “the French cabaret sweetheart,” Piaf’s iconic songs include “La Vie en rose” (“Life in Pink”) and “Non, je ne regrette rien” (“No, I Don’t Regret Anything”).

Piaf died of liver cancer – some reports say cirrhosis – in 1963. If you want to see her grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery, look for the tombstone that says “Famille GASSION-PIAF.”

READ MORE: Interesting Facts About Edith Piaf

9. Eugène Delacroix

Regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school, Eugène Delacroix’s use of color and manipulation of light in his works had an influence on the development of both Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting.

Delacroix was a prolific artist during his lifetime. Upon his death in 1863, he had left behind a legacy of over 9,000 artworks of different mediums, which range from paintings to drawings, watercolors, and pastels.

Among his most notable works include The Barque of Dante (1822), The Massacre at Chios (1824), and Liberty Leading the People (1830).

10. Sarah Bernhardt

French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt starred in some of the most popular French plays of her time (late 19th century to early 20th century). These include Sardou’s Fédora and La Tosca, Dumas’ La Dame Aux Camelias (Lady of the Camellias), and Hugo’s Ruy Blas.

One of the most famous roles Bernhardt had portrayed was that of Napoleon II in the 1900 play by Edmond Rostand, L’Aiglon. The actress, who was 55 years old at the time, played as a 21-year-old man.

Bernhardt was also among the first women to have played the title role in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, performing both in Paris and London.

11. Alfred de Musset

The grave of the famous French dramatist Alfred de Musset site is marked by his own bust and a weeping willow, his favorite tree.

Best known for his plays such as No Trifling with Love and Lorenzaccio, as well as his celebrated love affair with George Sand, Musset was also a poet and novelist.

12. Marcel Marceau

Best remembered for his stage persona, “Bip the Clown,” French actor and legendary mime artist Marcel Marceau had for over 60 years performed not only in France but worldwide. The world called him the “master of silence.”

Jewish by blood, Marceau had survived the Nazi occupation and saved many children in World War II. He was admired for his unparalleled pantomime style. He could move his audiences without uttering a single syllable.

If you’d like to visit Marceau’s grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery, look out for a triangular stone with a Star of David mark.

13. Étienne-Gaspard Robert

Étienne-Gaspard Robert, a prominent physicist with a specialization in optics, was born in 1763 in Liège, Belgium. He was also known as “Robertson” on stage, the magician and illusionist who enthralled his audiences with his “phantasmagoria” performance by using a “magic lantern” to project ghosts and spirits.

Robertson’s impressive grave in the Père Lachaise features winged ghosts, demons, and monsters. There is also a winged skeleton hovering over the audience as he plays a horn.

14. Claude Chabrol

Award-winning French film director Claude Chabrol was part of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who became prominent during the late 1950s.

Very prolific throughout his career that spanned 50 years, Charol had continued making movies and TV series until around his death in 2010. He left behind a legacy of about 75 films and TV series, not counting those he starred in as an actor.

15. Gaspard Ulliel

French actor Gaspard Ulliel was known for having portrayed the young Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal Rising in 2007. In 2014, he played the lead role in the biopic Saint Laurent, based on the French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

Born in Paris in 1984, Ulliel started acting – “just for fun” – at the age of 11. Several years later, he left the university to pursue a serious career in acting.

In January 2022, Ulliel died tragically following a skiing accident at La Rosière resort in Savoie, southeast of France. He was 37.