Passy Cemetery

Passy Cemetery

The Cimetière de Passy, with the Eiffel Tower in the background

Passy in Paris

Details
Established 1820
Location Passy, Paris
Country France
Coordinates 48°51′45″N 2°17′07″E / 48.86250°N 2.28528°ECoordinates: 48°51′45″N 2°17′07″E / 48.86250°N 2.28528°E
Type Public
Owned by Mairie de Paris
Size 1.75 hectares (4.3 acres)
Number of graves 2600
Website Passy cemetery on the Mairie de Paris
Find a Grave 638993

Passy Cemetery (French: Cimetière de Passy) is a cemetery in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France.

History

The current cemetery replaced the old cemetery (l'ancien cimetière communal de Passy##, located on Rue Lekain), which was closed in 1802.

In the early 19th century, on the orders of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, all the cemeteries in Paris were replaced by several large new ones outside the precincts of the capital. Montmartre Cemetery was built in the north, Père Lachaise Cemetery in the east, and Montparnasse Cemetery in the south. Passy Cemetery was a later addition, but has its origins in the same edict.

The current entrance was built in 1934 (designed by René Berger). The retaining wall of the cemetery is adorned with a bas relief (by Louis Janthial) commemorating the soldiers who fell in the Great War.

Notes

Opened in 1820 in the expensive residential and commercial districts of the Right Bank near the Champs-Élysées, by 1874 the small Passy Cemetery had become the aristocratic necropolis of Paris. It is the only cemetery in Paris to have a heated waiting-room.

Sheltered by a bower of chestnut trees, the cemetery is in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

The cemetery was once the home of a statue by Dunikowski titled The Soul Escaping the Body. It was on top of the ceremonial grave of Antoni Cierplikowski. The statue was known by many but was removed when the grave was cleared in 2004.[1]

It is known as a small but well visited cemetery (Petit mais bien fréquenté).

Notable interments

Among its more famous residents are:

Location

The entrance of the cemetery is located at 2, Rue du Commandant Schlœsing. The street in which it is situated is named for a Free French pilot, Squadron Leader Jacques-Henri Schlœsing (1919–1944), who flew with the wartime RAF until killed in action, the day that Paris was liberated.

The cemetery is behind the Trocadéro.

The Trocadéro from the Eiffel Tower, Passy Cemetery can be seen on the left of center behind the Palais de Chaillot

References

  1. ↑ The Mystery of Antoine Cierplikowski
  2. ↑ Kirkland, Stephanie (22 December 2011). "Paris Places: Passy Cemetery. Retrieved 4 March 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cimetière de Passy.