Visiting the cemetery of Montparnasse
 

The Montparnasse Cemetery is one of the 3 major cemeteries of the city of Paris, along with Père Lachaise and Montmartre, but I don't think it receives as many visits as the other two, maybe because it is all flat and relatively square in shape so it doesn't seem as quirky.

But while it is not necessarily worth a special visit unless one of your idols has been buried there, it is a very nice walk for an hour or two if you are in the area.

I went there again this week and made this report: http://tinyurl.com/olluu2a

We went in May, 2013.

It is very difficult to find individual graves unless they are Jean Paul Sartre and his sad Simone de Beauvoir or have a Niki de St Phalle tombstone.

But purely by accident,I turned around and found the grave of my favorite director, Eric Rohmer. Had to be divine intervention! We could have spent hours there.

Found this as I wanted to know also, sort of like why there is a tree full of chewed bubble gum next to Morrison's grave.

Metro tickets and notes left for both de Beauvoir and Sartre

Jean-Paul passed away in 1980 and his life partner Simone de Beuvoir followed him in 1986. The basics of Sartre’s philosophy is that each person must define meaning for themselves. Philosophically speaking Sartre was a fellow-traveler, which means that he may have agreed with a movement (i.e.Communist, Maoist, etc) but he would have never have officially joined any group. During the turbulent 60s and 70s Sartre supported a number of Leftist movements including the French Maoists, which acted at times like Robinhood in that they stole from the rich (i.e. government) and distributed to the poor (i.e. workers). One of these acts was inspired by a price hike for the Paris metro. In response to this act, which directly impacted French workers, the group stole metro tickets and gave them away. Sartre helped the Maoist cause by taking over its newspaper after the group’s leadership was arrested in 1970. Today the grave of Sartre and de Beuvoir it is likely that some unused Metro tickets are on the grave which commemorate Sartre’s and de Beauvoir’s support of the French Maoists and perhaps of socialism and labor in general. Notes are put on the grave for Simone de Beauvoir, the author of The Second Sex and who famously said, “one is not born a woman, but becomes one”. The notes that I saw were written in a few languages including Arabic, English, Spanish and French. The notes written in English, Spanish and French, the languages I could get the gist of, referenced a woman’s strength and thanked de Beauvoir for her inspiration.

Lovely images, as ususal.

This is a universal interest, I believe.

When I was young, we always vacationed with relatives in a small southern town. My cousin and I would spend hours walking thru the local cemetery, reading the headstones and making up stories about the dearly departed. In a good way

Yes another great shoot -

Found this as I wanted to know also, sort of like why there is a tree full of chewed bubble gum next to Morrison's grave.>

Well Morrison's grave is in Pere Lachaise not Montparnasse cemetery - every time I've seen it there have also been whisky bottles on and around the graver as well as graffiti on the tombs.

Pal, I have been to Pere Lachaise but not Montparnasse. Why does Morrison have the gum tree? I loved the full bed for the Pigeon family.
You all must read Waiting for Gertrude.

We loved the Pigeon family bed also.

Below is a posed picture I took the last time I was Montparnasse. Beckett is one of my literary heroes. Among the people I also looked for was Alfred Dreyfus, but where his grave was supposed to be, was a cordoned off site where digging was taking place.

https://plus.google.com/u/1/photos/1...93471734144753

Visited on our first trip to Paris, long ago. Some striking images here -- reason to return. Thanks.

Thanks for this, another great photo essay. Spent quite a bit of time there a few years back, finishing up with several others all searching for Guy de Maupassant's grave (in the 'back left' section I recall). After finally locating it and having a convivial multinational chat among the tombstones I repaired for a late lunch to one of K's recommendations, Chez Papa on the corner of nearby Rue Gassendi.

Thank you, Kerouac. Our Paris home overlooks the cemetery, and I always stop by, on the Edgar Quinet side, when I'm in town. Aside from the usual suspects -- Sartre, Beckett et al, I like saying hello (or is it goodbye?!) to Jean Seberg, who I remembered from the Bonjour Tristesse days.

And about 10 years ago, it took me forever to find old friend, Aram Kevorkian's grave, simply because he had only recently passed away at the time, but not a lot of people knew who he was. He was an American lawyer who had spent about 40 years living in Paris, and wrote spectacular stories and a monthly newsletter -- a witty and often opinionated view on French law and its quirks.

kerouac, a thousand thanks for this latest entry in your generously shared oeuvre. This is the first summer in several years that we will not visit Paris and your photos are a balm for the withdrawal symptoms.

Thanks to all who enjoyed the photos. The Montparnasse cemetery is really a worthwhile visit in that part of town and might be combined with a visit to the top of the Tour Montparnasse, because among all of the other things you see 58 floors above Paris, the view straight down onto the cemetery is amazing all in itself.