Paris Cemetery Holds Lottery for Space Near Jim Morrison and Chopin
People are dying for a chance to rest near Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and Frédéric Chopin. The obsession with celebrity is evident, but a Paris cemetery is now offering fans the opportunity to be buried near their idols—if they’re willing to pay.
Père Lachaise Cemetery is the final resting place of some of history’s and pop culture’s most famous figures, including Jim Morrison of The Doors, writer Oscar Wilde, Marcel Marceau, and Frédéric Chopin. The organization overseeing the cemetery is now allowing people to purchase plots there, or at other historic French 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 are buried).
Thirty gravestones from these cemeteries are in disrepair and can be bought for €4,000 (about $4,500). Buyers must restore the monuments and then purchase the burial plot next to the headstone they restore. Due to overwhelming demand, officials will hold a lottery for the sale, 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.
Paris city officials see this as a way to honor the deceased while addressing the scarcity of burial space in the city.
Author’s summary: Paris cemeteries are offering a rare chance to be buried near legendary figures through a lottery, balancing respect for the dead with the city’s limited burial space.