Historic French Cemeteries Offer Resting Places Amongst the Famous, But Only To A Select Few

A scenic path through Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris
Credit: GoodLifeStudio via Canva

Paris’s historic cemeteries have been full since the beginning of the 20th century, so burial plots are mostly unavailable for today’s inhabitants. But in April of 2025, the Paris Council came up with a “compromise” between preserving funerary heritage — as it is strictly protected by law — and giving residents of the capital the rare opportunity to be buried within the city walls. The response was greater than city officials expected.

How This Pilot Program Works

The preservation laws regarding historical monuments and sites make it nearly impossible for Parisian cemeteries to legally repair or restore abandoned headstones, according to the city’s official website. But because these cemeteries serve a dual purpose as green space in a busy metropolis, it would behoove them to be able to provide for some form of maintenance. To circumscribe these restrictions, three historic cemeteries have made thirty burial plots available in exchange for the purchase of an abandoned memorial, and agreeing to restore it accordingly.

Essentially, by allowing private citizens to purchase and restore the crumbling headstones, the city is able to take advantage of a long sought-for loophole. As the official website explains, “For several decades, cemetery users throughout France have been expressing their willingness to restore an old gravestone in exchange for a burial plot. The challenge remained to find the appropriate legal framework, as such a project requires combining public and private rights.” [Translated from the original French.]

Historic family tombs and headstones in Montparnasse cemetery
Credit: Robert Dupuis from Getty Images Signature

The program, therefore, proposes a two-condition system as a type of experiment: A resident of the city of Paris will be able to buy a funerary monument on site in a cemetery if they commit to restoring it authentically in order to obtain definitive ownership; and after restoration of the monument under the expected conditions (and within the imposed time frame), the person can then proceed to acquire a burial plot under the restored monument (also within an imposed time frame). 

When you “buy” a burial plot under these terms, you are actually leasing a section of cemetery land. These particular plots are offered for a fixed term of 10, 30, or 50 years, or in perpetuity (as long as the grave is maintained.) According to the applications for the program, it costs €976 for 10 years, €3,354 for 30 years, €5,260 for 50 years, and €17, 668 for perpetuity. 

On October 31, 2025, the program announced: “As many Parisians have already expressed their desire to participate in this first test, the most equitable response seemed to be to organize a draw [lottery] to decide between the candidates.” Applications will be accepted until the end of the year, with a drawing occurring on January 19th, 2026. 

Famous Neighbors In Beautiful Resting Places

Thirty monuments are being offered for sale under the pilot program: 10 at Père-Lachaise Cemetery, 10 at Montparnasse Cemetery, and 10 at Montmartre Cemetery. These cemeteries are more than just monuments to the dead; they are parks through which inhabitants stroll and picnic, and tourists regularly visit the graves of a number of infamous historic figures and celebrities.

Although none of the monuments belong to any of the celebrity inhabitants of these historic cemeteries, the honor of being interred nearby is one that many can’t ignore. Here are just a few of the esteemed inhabitants of each site:

Père-Lachaise

The Père-Lachaise cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, covering 110 acres of verdant land in the 20th arrondissement. Established in 1804 by Napoleon Bonaparte, it is one of the most visited cemeteries in the world, attracting over 3 million visitors each year. 

Fallen leaves gather amongst the graves at Père-Lachaise
Credit: Manel Subirats from Getty Images

Being one of the most prestigious necropolises in the City of Lights, Père-Lachaise is the resting place of dozens of well-known figures: You can visit the graves of luminaries such as Honoré de Balzac, Marcel Proust, Molière, and Frédéric Chopin, as well as more recent denizens like Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, and Edith Piaf. 

Montmartre

Montmartre cemetery was established on the site of a former burial ground called the Champ du Repos (Field of Rest), amongst abandoned gypsum quarries. The third largest cemetery in Paris (only behind Père-LaChaise and Montparnasse), this historic site offers expansive views of the capital, as well as its own celebrity monuments. 

Moss grows on the sides of some historic headstones in Montmartre.
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The writer Alexander Dumas and impressionist painter Edgar Degas are buried here, as well as La Goulue, the legendary star of the Moulin Rouge and inventor of the French Cancan. 

Montparnasse

Montparnasse cemetery has long been known as a popular resting place for intellectual elites. The cemetery holds an unusual number of graves occupied by artists, writers, and their publishers, as well as foreigners who chose France as their adopted country (like Irish writer Samuel Beckett.) 

Spring erupts in a riot of color at Montparnasse.
Credit: Anneke DeBlok from Getty Images Signature

French writers and philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir share a grave at Montparnasse, and you can also find monuments belonging to sculptor Frédéric August Bartholdi (who designed the Statue of Liberty), poet Charles Baudelaire, and visual artist Man Ray, amongst others.