Cimetière de Montmartre

A gorgeous cemetery, worth the walk around. The are laminated copies of the list of graves that you can pick up at the entry if you want to track down particular graves. I didn't see it when I came in but wish I would have.

An interesting cemetery.

As we were trying to leave the Moulin Rouge area, we thought we could cut across the cemetery. By the way, no you cannot.

Part of it is tucked under the large bridge of Rue Caulaincourt passing overhead. The entire cemetery seems to sit in a bit of a hole. It seemed more compact than Père Lachaise. But similar mix of stones from centuries to just years ago. We stumbled on a particular one that was quite famous with drag queens. As we watch the band of four walk to this grave with a statue of a stunning young girl, Dalida was the name. A popular Egyptian born singer who died in Paris in 1987. There are many historical figures buried here, but it was getting too dark to search.

François Roland Truffaut (February 6, 1932 - October 21,1984) is buried here. I'm posting my photo of his grave. Just like all the cemeteries in Paris it's absolutely beautiful. All of the cemeteries in Paris are well maintained. We were overwhelmed by the number of celebrities buried here. I couldn't possibly see everything. I found their system to find the graves very helpful. All I can say is if you enjoy visiting cemeteries the way we do, don't miss this one during your exploration of Paris! This is another cemetery I would be happy to revisit during my next Paris vacation. The artistic beauty of this cemetery rivals only that of the artists buried here. I highly recommend.

After visiting Saint Couer, my friends and I walked over to this other Montmarte landmark. We'd visited cemeteries in the smaller towns in the French countryside, but they were so tiny compared to this place. So many awesome mausoleums and memorials. I especially loved all the very weathered looking ones. The newer granite slabs just don't have the same character! We spent quite a while wandering around but we didn't get to see everything--this place is massive. We even ran into some cute cemetery cats. Yes it's a little eerie, but also quite beautiful, if you're into this kind of thing.

STEPH JUDGEMENT: Everything you could want in an old French cemetery.

We visited this cemetery in September 2017. I went there specifically to find Jim Morrison's grave. This is a beautiful cemetery with well-marked graves of very famous poets, etc. in addition to Jim Morrison.

Make sure that you plan enough time to walk around and see all the different areas. There is also a great little restaurant across the street from it that has somewhat of a little shrine to Jim as to photos, etc. from his last days in Paris.

The cemetery is free. There are also tours that you can take, but I personally like going off on my own without a tour guide.

Some of my friends thought I was crazy to visit this place... nothing glamorous about a cemetery as they said.
But Montmartre Cemetery is located in the 18th arrondissement and dates from 1825. A map at the entrance will help you to locate the famous "Vip" of the cemetery as Dalida or Émile Zola...

I actually came to pay hommage to this amazing women that is Dalida which was a symbol of Montmartre (and whose house isn't far from the cemetery.

There is a very peaceful vibe although a bridge located above the cemetery with remind you that you are in the busy Place de Clichy/ montmartre area.
Many styles of funeral monuments depending on the era, will remind you that this cemetery went through many centuries and architectural styles.
The messages on some steles are beautiful and very inspirational.

My advice is to come with an open mind and have a walk around to discover this large cimetery.

The highlight of my trip to Paris. Peaceful, beautiful, cats everywhere. It was a delight.

Not sure how to review a cemetery, exactly. I feel like it's weird to say things like it's not pretty enough for me, or something - though this 1 actually was way too pretty, I thought. It was maybe the polar opposite of this ghetto/traumatic cemetery I once visited, where there were a bunch of open tombs & a human skull peeking from 1 of them. There's also no forgetting the huge banner that said something like "Today it's me, tomorrow, it's you". Geez. No worries about that sort of thing at Le Cimetière de Montmartre.

Visiting a cemetery wasn't exactly on our agenda, but Le Cimetière de Montmartre was too pretty to not snap pictures of, at least as we walked around Paris looking for Gontran Cherrier & the Moulin Rouge.This was also my first time seeing a Parisian cemetery, so it was an "Ah, so this is how the French do cemeteries" moment for me. Like their food, architecture & art, their cemeteries are pretty amazing. And if cemeteries are your thing, this should be your next stop after paying homage to Jim Morrison at Cimetière du Père Lachaise.

Make it Part of Your Montmartre Tour

Yes, Pere Lachaise blah blah blah whatever...

Cimetiere de Montmartre is every bit as interesting as Pere Lachaise. As an added bonus, you won't get trampled by people racing around to get pictures of all the "important" people buried here.

I know it sounds rather morbid exploring a cemetery but the Montmarte Cemetery is very interesting.

Lots of unique tombstones and monuments. It's amazing how people thought these things out beforehand. Quite a few famous people were buried here.

You can easily get "lost" walking around, but luckily you can follow the cobblestone paths back to the main road.