Cimetiere Du Nord

Cemeteries and graveyards have always held my fascination. I don’t consider it a morbid one, more an interest born of curiosity. Even in childhood I wanted to know about the people who came before me. Names and dates carved in stone just happen to be an excellent way to learn about them!

For those of us who live in parts of the world which were colonised more recently, we don’t necessarily have super old graves that are recognisable as such. In fact it was only when I went to England that I realised just why, at Halloween, all the decorations came out with broken and slanted headstones. I always thought it was just because they were a bit janky in the spirit of Halloween, but in England the graves are old enough to actually look like that!

In Paris, things are somewhat different, but no less fascinating. Le Cimetière du Nord, or unofficially “Montmartre Cemetery” can be found in the north of Paris, in Montmartre, just at the base of the hill where the Sacré-Coeur Basilica sits.

Unlike Anglo-Colonial graves, Montmartre Cemetery is full of mausoleums, some old, some new, all with interesting stories.

It’s very obvious which occupants are either newer or still very well loved. Some of the mausoleums look as though they’ve been broken into, though with the amount of cobwebs and dust it looks like the break-ins happened decades ago and no one bothered to go clean the mess. Payment for upkeep is paid by the families, and so if the upkeep isn’t paid it doesn’t happen.

Did the families move on? Were the people who rested in Montmartre moved? Are their ashes or bodies still there, left unknown and cut off by descendents who changed nationalities? Were they not well loved?

The possibilities and stories are nigh on endless, and along a single path between the graves you’ll find each of the plots has one such story or another. Not that they’re all unkempt, most of them are lovely and very clearly either new or well cared for. Especially those who belong to famous people like Edgar Degas, a famous impressionist artist; Alexander Dumas Jr, a novelist in his own rite and son of Alexandre Dumas Sr. who wrote the Three Musketeers; and many more famous people whom I have never heard of but I’m sure others have.

More famous perhaps than any of them are the cats which prowl the cemetery and use the abandoned crypts as shelter. When Aunt River and I visited we spoke with a woman who came to feed them. If I remember correctly it seemed to me she had also brought tools with which to clean a grave. It struck me as quite honorable of her, that she chose to care for both the living and the dead when she could easily have chased the cats away.

You can visit the cemetery from 8am to 6pm every day, and the good thing is that Covid hasn’t changed that, though I don’t know if there are any other restrictions Montmartre has put into place. I recommend going in the cool of the morning because then you have all afternoon to visit other things, and because it’s a touch cooler in the morning. Bring a good pair of walking shoes; although some of the paths are well paved there are tiny paths between the graves which can make wearing high heels a hazard. You’ll also want a bottle of water and perhaps a raincoat if the weather turns. Other than that, entrance is free, so bring your sense of curiosity and maybe some flowers if you like!

Wear a mask, wash your hands, stay home, and stay safe gentle reader.