Paris, Montparnasse Cemetery

The cemetery is located in the 14th Arrondissement between the rue de la Gaité and boulevard Raspail and can be entered from boulevard Edgar Quinet. May be reached on the metro – taking the Edgar-Quinet stop. In the 17th century, the land on which the cemetery is currently standing was owned by the l'Hotel-Dieu along with property of the Brothers of Charity.

In the time of the Revolution, this property was confiscated, as was much church property. Public Assistance, the new owners started to bury those people who died in the hospitals and whose bodies were not claimed by anyone. As cemeteries were forbidden within the city limits of Paris for health reasons, it was outside the city limits. Originally known as Le Cimetière du Sud (The South cemetery) , Cimetière du Montparnasse (Montparnasse cemetery) opened its doors on 25 July, 1824. With its 19 hectares (46.95 acres), it is the second largest cemetery in Paris after Père-Lachaise. It is also one of the most important green spaces in the city with its 1,200 trees. At the beginning of the 19th century, the city of Paris acquired the neighboring land to create a cemetery for the burial of inhabitants who resided on the left bank of Paris.

Originally the cemetery was a dozen hectares (29.65 acres) but in 1847, land was again acquired to double its size. At the end of the 19th century some land was given to allow several streets to be expanded, decreasing the size of the cemetery. Since then, the size of the cemetery has not changed. The cemetery constitutes an important museum of 19th and 20th century statues and sculpture. Works of many important artists of the time are represented there.

Montparnasse Cemetery is the eternal home of many notable French and international people as well as publishers and others who promoted the works of writers and artists. It is a highly popular tourist attraction.

A

• Henri Alekan (1909–2001), cinematographer
• Alexander Alekhine (1892–1946), Russian-born chess world champion
• Michèle Arnaud (1919–1998), singer
• Raymond Aron (1905–1983), philosopher, sociologist and political scientist
• Jean-Michel Atlan (1913–1960), poet and painter
• Tina Aumont (1946–2006), actress, daughter of Jean-Pierre Aumont and Maria Montez
• Georges Auric (1899–1983), composer, member of Les Six

B

• Shapour Bakhtiar (1914–1991), last prime minister of the constitutional monarchy in Iran
• César Baldaccini (1921–1988), sculptor
• Théodore de Banville (1823–1891), poet, writer
• Frédéric Bartholdi (1834–1904), sculptor of the Statue of Liberty
• Maryse Bastié (1898–1952), pioneer aviatrix
• Pierre Batcheff (1901–1932), actor
• Jane Bathori (1877–1970), opera singer
• Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867), poet
• Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007), French cultural theorist, philosopher, political commentator, and photographer
• Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986), feminist philosopher & author
• Jacques Becker (1906–1960), filmmaker
• Samuel Beckett (1906–1989), Irish author, playwright & poet
• Eugène Belgrand (1810–1878), civil engineer
• Paul Belmondo (1898–1982), French sculptor
• Jean Béraud (1849–1935), painter
• Emmanuel Berl (1892–1976), writer
• Aloysius Bertrand (1807–1841), poet
• Marcel Alexandre Bertrand (1847–1907), geologist, founder of the plate tectonic theory
• Louis Gustave Binger (1856–1936), explorer
• Lucien Bodard (1914–1998), journalist
• Marc Boegner (1881–1970), theologist and academician
• Jean-Marie Bonnassieux (1810–1892), sculptor
• Aristide Boucicaut (1810–1877), entrepreneur and creator of Le Bon Marchéchain of department stores
• William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905), artist (painter in realist style)
• Antoine Jacques Claude Joseph, comte Boulay de la Meurthe (1761–1840), statesman
• Antoine Bourdelle (1861–1921), sculptor & teacher
• Paul Bourget (1852–1935), writer
• Marcel Bozzuffi (1928–1988), actor
• Gérard Brach (1927–2006), screenwriter
• Constantin Brâncuși (1876–1957), Romanian sculptor
• Brassaï (born Gyula Halász) (1899–1984), photographer
• Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard (1817–1894), physician
• Jean Bruller (1902–1991), author who wrote under the nom de plume of Vercors

C

• René Capitant (1901–1970), lawyer and statesman
• Roger Caillois (1913–1978), author
• Jean Carmet (1920–1994), actor
• Isabelle Caro (1982-2010), model
• Eugène Carrière (1849–1906), Symbolist painter
• Rene Cassin (1887–1976), jurist, Nobel Laureate. His remains were later transferred to the Panthéon.
• Sergio de Castro (1922-2012), Argentinian musician and painter
• Cornelius Castoriadis (1922-1997), French philosopher of Greek origin
• Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1811–1899), organ builder
• Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894), composer
• Honoré Champion (1846–1913), publisher
• Claude François Chauveau-Lagarde (1756-1841), lawyer, defender of Marie-Antoinette
• Marie-Dominique Chenu (1895-1990), Catholic theologian
• Emil Cioran (1911–1995), Romanian philosopher
• André Citroën (1878–1935), founded France's Citroën automobile factory
• Antoni Clavé (1913–2005), artist
• Yves Congar (1904–1995), Catholic theologian
• François Coppée (1842–1908), poet and novelist
• Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis (1792–1843), mathematician
• Julio Cortázar (1914–1984), Argentinian author
• Antoine Augustin Cournot (1801–1877), economist
• Maurice Couve de Murville (1907–1999), former Prime Minister of France
• Adolphe Crémieux (1796–1880), lawyer and statesman
• Charles Cros (1842–1888), poet and inventor

D

• Jules Dalou (1838–1902), sculptor
• Gabriel Davioud (1824–1881), architect
• Pierre David-Weill (1900–1975), banker, Chairman of Lazard Frères
• Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil (1900–1989), lover and, later, wife of Samuel Beckett
• Jacques Demy (1931–1990), film director
• Édouard Deperthes (1833–1898), architect
• Paul Deschanel (1855–1922), former President of France
• Robert Desnos (1900–1945), Surrealist poet
• Porfirio Díaz (1830–1915), longest serving Mexican President, Dictator, General
• Marie Dorval (1798–1849), actress
• Alfred Dreyfus (1859–1935), Jewish military officer falsely accused of treason (the Dreyfus affair)
• Jules Dumont d'Urville (1790–1842), explorer of South Pacific & discoverer of Venus de Milo
• Marguerite Duras (1914–1996), author & movie director
• Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), sociologist

E

• Émile Egger (1813–1885), philologist
• Robert Enrico (1931–2001), film director
• Antoine Étex (1808–1888), sculptor

F

• Henri Fantin-Latour (1836–1904), artist
• Léon-Paul Fargue (1876–1947), poet and essayist
• Henri Flammarion (1846–1936), publisher
• Paul Foucher (1810–1875), dramatist and journalist
• César Franck (1822–1890), composer & organist
• Othon Friesz (1879–1949), painter
• Carlos Fuentes (1928–2012), writer

G

• Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991), singer and composer
• Évariste Galois (1811-1832), mathematician and revolutionary
• Charles Garnier (1825–1898), designed the original Paris Opera House for Napoleon III
• Henry Gauthier-Villars (1859–1931), writer and first husband of Colette
• François Gérard (1770–1837), artist
• Jean Giraud (1938-2012), illustrator, comic artist, also known as Moebius
• Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911), organist and composer

H

• Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette (1769–1834), mathematician
• Clara Haskil (1895–1960), Romanian pianist
• Pierre-Jules Hetzel (1814–1886), publisher and literary editor
• Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828), famous sculptor of notable men
• Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848–1907), author

I

• Roger Ibáñez (1931–2005), actor
• Vincent d'Indy (1851–1931), composer
• Eugène Ionesco (1909–1994), Romanian playwright
• Jean Robert Ipousteguy (1920–2006), sculptor, painter
• Joris Ivens (1898–1989), Dutch filmmaker

J

• Jean Bernard Jauréguiberry (1815–1887), admiral and statesman
• Joëlle (1953–1982), American-born French singer
• Gustave Jundt (1830–1884), painter
• Jean Giraud (1938-2012), artist, cartoonist, and writer
• Geneviève Joy (1919-2009), French classical and modernist pianist

K

• Gustave Kahn, (1859-1936), poet and art critic
• Joseph Kessel (1898–1979), writer
• Kiki (1901–1953), singer, actress, painter, "Queen of Montparnasse" (although she was probably buried in Thiais)
• Adamantios Korais (1748–1833), Greek writer and philosopher

L

• Bernard Lacoste (1931–2006), president of Lacoste apparel company
• Henri Langlois (1914–1977), film preservationist
• Pierre Larousse (1817–1875), author of encyclopedia Larousse Gastronomique
• Henri Laurens (1885–1954), sculptor, engraver
• Alphonse Laveran (1845–1922), physician, parasitologist
• Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941), biographer of Arsène Lupin, novelist
• Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle (1818–1894), poet
• Jean Henri Lefortier (1819–1886), painter
• Alexandre Lenoir (1761–1839), archaeologist
• Philippe Léotard (1940–2001), teacher, actor, poet, singer
• Urbain Le Verrier (1811–1877), astronomer and mathematician
• André Lhote (1885–1962), painter and sculptor
• Jacques Lisfranc (1790–1847), gynecologist and surgeon
• Émile Littré (1801–1881) lexicographer, philosopher
• Baltasar Lobo (1910–1993), Spanish sculptor
• Sylvia Lopez (1931–1959), actress
• Herbert Lottman (1927–2014), American biographer
• Louis Loucheur (1872–1931), statesman
• Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925), poet, romance novelist

M

• Ambrose Dudley Mann (1801–1889), Commissioner of the Confederate States of America for Belgium and the Vatican
• René Maran (1887–1960), intellectual, author
• Gaston Maspero (1846–1916), Egyptologist
• Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893), author
• Rosita Mauri (1849–1923), principal ballerina at the Paris Opera
• Claude Mauriac (1914–1996), author
• René Mayer (1895–1972), former Prime Minister of France
• Catulle Mendès (1841–1909), poet, man of letters
• Adah Isaacs Menken (1835–1868), actress, poet
• André Meyer (1898–1979), French/American financier
• Mireille (1906–1996), singer, composer
• Maria Montez (1912–1951), actress
• Vincent de Moro-Giafferi (1878–1956), lawyer and statesman
• Jean Mounet-Sully (1841–1916), actor

N

• Philippe Noiret (1930–2006), actor
• Max Nordau (1849–1923), Zionist leader, physician, author

O

• Mathieu Orfila (1787–1853), toxicologist, chemist
• Gérard Oury (1919–2006), director

P

• Pan Yuliang (1895–1977), Chinese painter
• Jean-Claude Pascal (1927–1992), singer and actor
• Adolphe Pégoud (1889–1915), aviator
• Auguste Perret (1874–1954), architect
• Symon Petliura (1879–1926), Ukrainian leader
• Maurice Pialat (1925–2003), film director
• Charles Pigeon (1838–1915), engineer, inventor and manufacturer
• Jules Henri Poincaré, (1854–1912), mathematician and physicist
• Jean Poiret (1926–1992), actor, film director
• François Charles Henri Laurent Pouqueville (1770–1838), Diplomat, writer, historian, archaeologist, physician
• Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, (1809–1865), philosopher and statesman
• Visarion Puiu (1879–1964), Romanian metropolitan bishop

Q

• Edgar Quinet (1803–1875), historian

R

• Denis Auguste Marie Raffet (1804–1860), painter
• Jean-Pierre Rampal (1922–2000), flautist
• Man Ray (1890–1976), American-born Dada & Surrealist artist and photographer
• Serge Reggiani (1922–2004), singer, actor
• Jean-Marc Reiser (1941–1983), comic artist
• Rosalie Rendu (1786–1856), daughter of charity
• Pierre Restany (1930–2003), art critic
• Paul Reynaud (1878–1966), lawyer and statesman
• Yves Robert (1920–2002), actor, director
• Yves Rocard (1903–1992), physicist
• Éric Rohmer (1920–2010), film director
• Frédéric Rossif (1922–1990), filmmaker
• Gustave Roussy (1874–1948), Swiss-born neuropathologist and oncologist
• François Rude (1784–1855), sculptor
• Julio Ruelas (1870–1907), Mexican painter
• Heinrich Daniel Ruhmkorff (1803–1877), German inventor

S

• Jean Sablon (1906–1994), singer
• Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804–1869), literary critic, author
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921), composer & performer of Romanticclassical music
• Jules Sandeau (1811–1883), novelist
• Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980), French philosopher & novelist
• Claude Sautet (1924–2000), film director
• Georges Schehadé (1905–1989), Lebanese poet and playwright
• Jean Seberg (1938–1979), American actress & civil rights activist
• Pierre Seghers (1906–1987), poet and editor
• Delphine Seyrig (1932–1990), actress
• Susan Sontag (1933–2004), American author & philosopher
• Jesús Rafael Soto (1923–2005), Venezuelan kinetic sculptor and painter
• Chaim Soutine (1893–1943), painter of the School of Paris

T

• Christophe Tarkos (1963–2004), poet
• Boris Taslitzky (1911–2005), painter
• Augustin Thierry (1795–1856), historian
• Roland Topor (1938–1997), writer, illustrator
• Henri Troyat (1911–2007), author
• Tristan Tzara (1896–1963), Romanian Dadaist poet and essayist

V

• Carlos Valenti (1888–1912), painter
• César Vallejo (1892–1938), Peruvian poet
• Jacques Vergès (1925–2013), lawyer
• Louis Veuillot (1813–1883), journalist
• Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845–1918), geographer
• Louis Vierne (1870–1937), composer, organist

W

• Henri Wallon (1812–1904), historian, statesman
• Adolphe Willette (1857–1926), painter
• Bronisława Wieniawa-Długoszowska (1886–1953), buried under the name 'Jeanne-Liliane Lalande'. She spied for French military intelligence during the Bolshevik revolution.

Y

• Saúl Yurkievich (1931–2005), poet

Z

• Ossip Zadkine (1890–1967), Russian-born sculptor & artist
• Sabine Zlatin (1907–1996), Polish-born humanitarian who hid Jewish children during the Holocaust

Location

The main entrance to the cemetery is on Boulevard Edgar Quinet which leads to the big cemetery. There are smaller entrances to both the big and small cemeteries on Rue Émile Richard (near the junction with both Boulevard Raspail and Boulevard Edgar Quinet).