Montparnasse Cemetery () is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery has over 35,000 graves and approximately a thousand people are buried here each year.
The cemetery contains 35,000 plots and is the resting place to a variety of individuals including political figures, philosophers, artists, actors, and writers. Additionally, in the cemetery one can find a number of tombs commemorating those who died in the Franco-Prussian war during the siege of Paris (1870–1871) and the Paris Commune (1871).
History
The cemetery was created at the beginning of the 19th century in the southern part of the city. At the same time there were cemeteries outside the city limits: Passy Cemetery to the west, Montmartre Cemetery to the north, and Père Lachaise Cemetery to the east.
In the 16th century the intersecting roads of Vavin and Raspail were dump areas for rubble and stones from nearby quarries. This created an artificial hill and is where "mont" came into the name Montparnasse. Students at the time would congregate on the hill to have fun and participate in open-air dances.
During the French Revolution the land and church were confiscated and the cemetery became property of the government. At this time, anyone who died at the hospital and whose body was not claimed was buried here.
In the 19th century cemeteries were banned in Paris due to health concerns. Several new cemeteries outside the precincts of the capital replaced all the internal Parisian ones: Montmartre Cemetery in the north, Père Lachaise Cemetery in the east, and Montparnasse Cemetery in the south. Montparnasse as well as Père Lachaise and Montmartre replaced the Cimetière des Innocents (those buried here were relocated to the Catacombs). During this time the city of Paris attained the estate and surrounding grounds in order to create a cemetery for the burial of people who lived in the Left Bank of the city. Previously, these inhabitants were buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Catherine and in the village of Vaugirard.
The cemetery at Montparnasse was originally known as Le Cimetière du Sud (Southern Cemetery) and it officially opened 25 July 1824. Since its opening, more than 300,000 people have been buried in Montparnasse.
Moulin de la Charité
In the 17th century the future location of the cemetery consisted of three farms that belonged to the Hôtel-Dieu hospital and an estate of the Brothers of Charity (frères de la Charité). During this time monks built a windmill that later became a Guinguette and the home of the cemetery's caretaker. The mill, which is still standing is the last remnant of the farms.
The cemetery today
The main entrance to the cemetery is north of Boulevard Edgar Quinet near the Edgar Quinet Métro station. The cemetery is divided in two parts by the Rue Émile Richard. The small section is usually referred to as the small cemetery (petit cimetière) and the large section as the large cemetery (grand cimetière). The west of Émile-Richard Street is divided into 21 divisions and to the east of Émile-Richard Street the cemetery is divided into 8 divisions numbered from 22 to 30 (there is no 23rd division).
With 47 acres, Montparnasse is a large green space inside the city limits of Paris. Within the cemetery one can find a variety of trees including linden, Japanese pagoda, thuja, maple, ash, and conifers. Because of the many notable people buried there, it is a popular tourist attraction.
In 2016, the permanent work CAUSSE was installed in the preserved section of the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris. A prominent French scientist commissioned a tomb from the artist engineer Milène Guermont. This work is a single block of ultra high performance concrete and optical fibers composed of 12 sides to materialize the electron de-multiplier cell invented by the client. This sculpture interacts with the environment: when an individual or a bird passes by, one of its points of light can go out or light up. This work has several peaks that refer to the commissioner's native mountains. The first viewing of the artwork was on November 1, 2016.
Commemorative tombs
Montparnasse Cemetery is the resting place of many of France's intellectual and artistic elite and those who promoted the works of authors and artists. There are graves of foreigners who made France their home as well as monuments to police and firefighters killed in the line of duty.