I am not a taphophile, I just appreciate the peaceful and meditative athmosphere of many cemeteries.

For 10 years I lived a 5 minute walk from the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Père Lachaise was established as a municipal cemetery in 1804. 13 graves in 1804, today there are over 1 million people buried there. With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Among the famous people buried there are Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Modigliani, Molière, Marcel Proust, Frédéric Chopin, Sarah Bernhardt, Edith Piaf…

I have spent hundreds of hours visiting the Père Lachaise cemetery. First of course I visited the « must-see graves » in this unique Parisian burial site. In 2018 I found a broken oval porcelain memorial photo plaque in a pile of dead leaves. I brought it to a cemetery caretaker and he said that I can keep it because it is a picture of someone no one remembers anymore.

That was a call to mission – start shooting at Père Lacheise to honor those that have been forgotten. Abandoned funerary chapels, tombs crumbling and falling apart, decaying tombstones, signs of cracks and rust… Père Lachaise cemetery has strict daytime hours, so unfortunately nighttime photos were out of the question.

Photography at Père Lachaise was a powerful and emotional experience for me. Almost religious. Strangely I did not feel like a photographer but more like a friend or family member of the deceased. I took a moment of silence to pay my respects before every photo. I almost felt that I have to ask permission before taking photos. I wanted to treat my subject with respect and dignity.

I will keep the porcelain photo plaque for the rest of my life. I did not know you but you are not forgotten !

I hope you rest in peace !

P.S. The word cemetery comes from the Greek word for sleeping place, koimeterion. And yes, there are homeless people sleeping in Père Lachaise funerary chapels. Yes, there are people who urinate and defecate in funerary chapels. Yes, you can see vandalised graves, headstones destroyed, sculptures smashed to pieces, tombstones and monuments to Holocaust victims spray-painted with swastikas…

I want to remember Père Lachaise Cemetery as a place of restful and harmonious beauty.