Since the
Montparnasse Cemetery was a block from our hotel, it seemed like the logical place to start any sight-seeing. It was a pleasant surprise, definitely not what either of us expected.
As the guide books will tell you, Montparnasse Cemetery is the official resting place of famous figures from many walks of life, such as Guy de Maupassant, Bernard Lacoste, Samuel Beckett, Jules Henri Poincaré, Alfred Dreyfus, Emile Durkheim, Eugène Ionesco, and oh so many more. Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir are probably the most famous residents of Montparnasse, beneath very modest headstones. (Perhaps the Being of their grave markers is all that is required. Anything else would be bad faith.)
What the guidebooks fail to tell you is how untraditional many of the grave sites are. Not surprising for France, creative and unexpected design crops up frequently. Here are some prime examples.
Here is the grave of the chess grand master Alexei Alekhine. Note the chessboard.
Montparnasse has many Jewish graves, as you might tell from this picture.
And here is the Adams family crypt. (Couldn't resist.)
On this trip to Paris, I noticed far more remembrances of World War I than on previous trips, such as this grave of a Great War veteran.
And World War II left its mark on Montparnasse, too.
The French do have strong political opinions, all the way to the grave.
This was one of my favorite headstones. The woman buried here,
Maryse Bastié, was a pioneering aviator who later headed France's Legion of Honor. Quite a woman.
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