Cimetière de Montparnasse

Montparnasse Cemetery

Montparnasse Cemetery
Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris
Details
Established	1824
Location	Paris
Country	France
Coordinates	48°50′N 2°20′E / 48.84°N 2.33°E / 48.84; 2.33
Type	Non-denominational
Owned by	Mairie de Paris
Size	19 hectares (47 acres)
No. of graves	35,000
Website	Montparnasse Cemetery
Find a Grave	Montparnasse Cemetery

Montparnasse Cemetery (French: Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, part of the city's 14th arrondissement.

Created from three farms in 1824, the cemetery at Montparnasse was originally known as Le Cimetière du Sud (Southern Cemetery). Cemeteries had been banned from Paris since the closure, owing to health concerns, of the Cimetière des Innocents in 1786. Several new cemeteries outside the precincts of the capital replaced all the internal Parisian ones in the early 19th century: Montmartre Cemetery in the north, Père Lachaise Cemetery in the east, and Montparnasse Cemetery in the south. At the heart of the city, and today sitting in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, is Passy Cemetery.

Montparnasse Cemetery is the resting place of many of France's intellectual and artistic elite as well as publishers and others who promoted the works of authors and artists. There are also many graves of foreigners who have made France their home, as well as monuments to police and firefighters killed in the line of duty in the city of Paris.

The cemetery is divided by Rue Émile Richard. The small section is usually referred to as the small cemetery (petit cimetière) and the large section as the big cemetery (grand cimetière).

Although Baudelaire is buried in this cemetery (division 6), there is also a cenotaph to him (between division 26 and 27).

Because of the many notable people buried there, it is a highly popular tourist attraction.

Divisions 5 and 30 were originally Jewish enclosures and contain many Jewish graves.

Tomb of Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire monument.

Julio Cortázar's grave.

Grave of Urbain Le Verrier

Grave of François Pouqueville