Paris is putting graves up for grabs in a ‘cemetery lottery’ to help clean up runaway gravestones
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The Paris city hall offers a rare opportunity to be buried among the most famous musicians in history. All you need is luck, a few thousand euros and the desire to dust off a worn tombstone.
Wednesday was the deadline to register for a draw to buy a burial plot in one of the city’s famous cemeteries, including Père-Lachaise.
Winners will have the opportunity to restore a forgotten and overgrown tomb.
By returning the restoration work, they will be able to buy the rights to the burial place in the cemetery.
Paris cemeteries attract tourists
Père-Lachaise Cemetery is one of the most iconic cemeteries in Paris – and one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. Along with Montmartre in the north and Montparnasse in the south, it is one of the three largest cemeteries in the city.
Other famous names interviewed at Père-Lachaise include playwright Oscar Wilde, Doors singer Jim Morrison and composer Frédéric Chopin.
Winding the cobbled paths around the cemetery, there are nearly 70,000 graves on the hill east of Paris, drawing tourists and mourners – more than three million people visit the cemeteries every year.
Among those buried in the Montparnasse cemetery are writers Jean-Paul Sartre and Susan Sontag.
The painter Edgar Degas and the writer Émile Zola are buried in the Montmartre cemetery.
City authorities found 30 graves in need of repair – 10 in each of the three cemeteries.
A premium cemetery in Paris
In Paris, the families of the deceased – instead of the city authorities – are responsible for maintaining the tombstones.
Over time, some resting places are abandoned, with crumbling headstones and inscriptions.
New burial sites are almost impossible to find in historic cemeteries, and cemeteries within Paris city limits have been nearly full since the beginning of the 20th century, according to the Mayor’s office.
Paris authorities said inviting the public to clean the tombstones was a “compromise” between honoring the dead and giving Parisians the chance to be buried in their city.
The lottery drawing, currently limited to residents of the French capital, is scheduled to take place later in January.
It costs 125 euros (about Cdn$200) to register, and winners will have to pay 4,000 euros (about Cdn$6,400) to secure the tomb they will keep.
Those selected have six months to renovate the dilapidated tomb – working with authorized masons – after which they will be able to purchase their own tomb.
Burial plots will cost about $28,000 for permanent rights.
