Paris Cemetery Offers Burial Lottery Near Famous Figures
The Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, known as the final resting place of legends like Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Marcel Marceau, and Frédéric Chopin, is offering a unique opportunity for fans to be buried close to these icons.
Historic Cemeteries Included
Besides Père Lachaise, the lottery also covers plots at other renowned Paris cemeteries such as Montparnasse, home to Jean-Paul Sartre and Jacques Chirac, and Montmartre, where impressionist painter Edgar Degas and royal executioner Charles-Henri Sanson rest.
Restoration and Purchase Requirements
- Thirty gravestones in need of repair across these cemeteries are available for purchase at €4,000 (around $4,500).
- Buyers must restore the chosen monument and purchase the adjacent burial plot for their own interment.
Lottery System Due to High Demand
Because of high interest, officials will allocate plots through a lottery, with the drawing scheduled for January.
"Offering eternal rest next to the stars is a compromise, Paris city officials say, that both respects the dead and lets residents be buried within the city, where there is very little room remaining for graves."
This initiative reflects a balance between honoring historic legacies and addressing Paris’s limited burial space.
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