I have now lived in/near Montmartre for 4 1/2 years and have never, for some odd reason, taken a walk in the Montmartre Cemetery. It's one of those big Parisian cemeteries, like Père Lachaise and Montparnasse, where famous people have been buried, and where you can usually find interesting grave markers. Assuming you like that sort of thing. And I do.
At last, Georges and I took a brief stroll through part of the cemetery on Saturday afternoon, to walk off our lunch. We didn't get too far into it though, because a storm blew through and we decided to just head home (we now live 5 minutes away, thus removing my last excuse for not going). But here's some of what we did manage to see... and I'll have to discover the rest another time.
Sacha Guitry and Lucien Guitry, well-known actors in France. Sacha was also a prolific screenwriter and director.
Interesting and a little bit creepy, these parent-and-child effigies complete with TOES peeking out (click to enlarge). Very odd imagery on this one: spiders, butterflies, bats, pyramids, roses, grapes and owls.
The singer Dalida, an icon in France and in Montmartre especially (she lived here at 11 bis Rue d'Orchamps, and there is a Place Dalida with a bronze bust where her "bust" has been polished by countless hands of fans. Don't ask me why. One of her songs was the French version of "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini". Quite a nice monument, here, and it seems fans have respected her final resting place (unlike fans of Jim Morrison in Père Lachaise, who so desecrated his tomb over the years that the family/the cemetery gave up putting any sort of attractive cover on it). Sadly, Dalida took her own life at the age of just 54.
You sometimes see very elaborate statues, even for non-famous people. This one seems to symbolize a "grieving widow".
These little plaques are very common in France. Sometimes they're quite touching, like this one with a photo on it: "To Sylvia, my much-loved daughter". No one should have to bury their own child.
Or this one, not personalized, but urging us "to remember".
I liked the mosaic on the side of this tomb; we couldn't find any sort of name or inscription on it -- perhaps worn away by time -- but it seemed to have a middle-eastern design to it which was quite different from the other predominantly Christian tombs around it.
We liked the look of this little "house" with the red door at the foot of a staircase.
Even though we didn't even make it through 50% of the cemetery, I took so many photos that I'll save the rest for another post. If you're interested in visiting, the cemetery is just off Place de Clichy. The entrance is down underneath the blue steel bridge that allows traffic to cross over the cemetery; there's a staircase just at the end of the bridge, or you can get there from Avenue Rachel.
