Home > Cimetière du Montparnasse

Created from three farms in 1824, the Montparnasse cemetery was originally known as Le Cimetière du Sud. Cemeteries had been banned from Paris since the shutting down of the Cimetière des Innocents in 1786 on the fringe of Les Halles food market on the grounds that it presented a health hazard. Several new cemeteries outside of the precincts of the capital replaced all the Parisian ones in the early 19th century, Cimetière de Montmartre in the north, Le Cimetière Père Lachaise in the east and Cimetière du Montparnasse in the south. At the heart of the city, and today, sitting in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, is Cimetière de Passy.

Montparnasse Cemetery is the eternal home of many of France's intellectual and artistic elite as well as publishers and others who promoted the works of writers and artists. There are also monuments to police and firefighters killed in the line of duty in the city of Paris.

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

Among the people buried here are:

• Alexandre Alekhine, Russian-born chess world champion
• Jean-Michel AtlanJean-Michel Atlan ( January 23, 1913 February 12, 1960) was born in Constantine, Algeria, and moved to Paris in 1930. He studied philosophy at the Sorbonne. He started as a self taught painter in 1941. He was arrested for being Jewish and for his politica, poet and painter
• Georges AuricGeorges Auric ( February 15, 1899 July 23, 1983) was a French composer, born in Lodeve, Herault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France. He was a child prodigy and at age 15 he had his first compositions published. Before he turned 20 he had orchestrated and writte, composer, member of Les SixLes Six is a name, superior to The Five, given in 1920 by critic Henri Collet to a group of six composers working in Montparnasse whose music is often seen as a reaction against Wagnerism and Impressionism. The members of Les Six were: Georges Auric (1899
• Frédéric BartholdiFrederic Auguste Bartholdi ( April 2, 1834 October 4, 1904) was a French sculptor. Born in Colmar, Alsace, France, he studied architecture in Colmar and then went to Paris to further his studies in architecture as well as painting. Bartholdi would go on t, sculptor of the Statue of Liberty
• Maryse Bastié (1898-1952), pioneer aviatrix
• Jane BathoriJane Bathori ( June 14, 1877 January 25, 1970) was a French opera singer. Born Jeanne-Marie Berthier in Paris, France, she was a very important opera star. Bathori originally studied piano and planned for a career as concert pianist but soon turned to sin, opera singer
• Charles BaudelaireCharles Pierre Baudelaire ( April 9, 1821 August 31, 1867) was one of the most influential French poets. He was also an important critic and translator. Life and work Baudelaire was born in Paris. His father, who was a senior civil servant and an amateur
• William-Adolphe BouguereauLe Printemps A. Bouguereau, 1863 Adolphe William Bouguereau ( November 30, 1825 August 19, 1905) was a French academic painter. A student at the Academie Julian in Paris, his realistic genre paintings and mythological themes were exhibited in the annual e, painter
• Antoine BourdelleAntoine Bourdelle ( October 30, 1861 October 1, 1929) was a French sculptor and teacher. Born mile Antoine Bourdelle at Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne, France. He left school at the age of 13 to work as a wood carver in his father's cabinet making shop. He le, sculptor
• Jacques Becker (1906-1960), filmmaker
• Samuel Beckett, Irish writer
• Simone de Beauvoir, feminist philosopher
• Constantin Brancusi, sculptor
• Brassaï, photographer
• Roger Caillois (1913-1978), writer
• Jean Carmet, actor
• André Citroën automobile manufacturer
• Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843), mathematician
• Antoine Augustin Cournot (1801-1877), economist
• Jules Dalou (1838-1902), sculptor
• Jacques Demy (1931-1990), film director
• Robert Desnos, poet
• Porfirio Díaz, longest serving Mexican President
• Alfred Dreyfus, military officer
• Jules Dumont d'Urville, explorer
• Marguerite Duras, writer
• Henri Fantin-Latour, painter
• Léon-Paul Fargue, poet and essayist
• Ernest Flammarion (1846-1936), publisher
• César Franck, composer
• Othon Friesz (1879-1949), painter
• Charles Garnier, builder of the Paris Opera
• Serge Gainsbourg, poet and singer
• François Gérard, painter
• Clara Haskil (1895-1960), pianist
• Jean Antoine Houdon, sculptor
• Joris-Karl Huysmans, writer
• Eugène Ionesco, playwright
• Joëlle (1953-1982), American born French singer
• Pierre Larousse, French author of a well-known dictionary
• Henri Laurens sculptor, engraver
• Alphonse Laveran (1845-1922), physician, parasitologist
• Sylvia Lopez (1931-1959), actress
• Guy de Maupassant, writer
• Adah Menken (1835-1868), actress, poet
• Mireille (1906-1996), singer, composer
• Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian leader
• Jean Pierre Rampal, Flutist
• Man Ray, photographer
• Maria Montez (1912-1951), actress
• Maurice Pialat (1925-2003), film director
• Jean Poiret (1926-1992), actor, film director
• François Rude, sculptor
• Jean Sablon (1906-1994), singer
• Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, literary critic, author
• Camille Saint-Saëns, composer
• Georges Sand, writer
• Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher
• Claude Sautet (1924-2000), film director
• Jean Seberg, American actress
• Delphine Seyrig (1932-1990), actress
• Tristan Tzara, poet and essayist
• César Vallejo (1892-1938), Peruvian poet
• Adolphe Willette (1857-1926), painter
• Ossip Zadkine, Russian-born sculptor

See also: List of other famous cemeteries