Stories in Stone Paris

Stories in Stone Paris

$24.99

SKU: 9781423630593
Quantity Discount
5 + $18.74

Description

The intrigue of death in the City of Love

Paris, city of lights, city of love, city of magic, city of art, city of death. Around twelve million people call the Paris metropolitan area home, and millions more call it their permanent home, including upwards of seven million in the catacombs in the Montparnasse district.

The cemeteries and monuments in Stories in Stone Paris cut across a wide swath of the last two hundred years of Paris history. With this field guide in hand, discover the funerary architecture, memorials and symbolism within twenty-eight of Paris’ notable resting places, including GPS coordinates for many gravesites.

Douglas Keister has authored more than thirty-five critically acclaimed books. His wealth of books on architecture has earned him the title “America’s most noted photographer of historic architecture.” His book Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism has garnered a number of glowing reviews. Keister has also authored additional cemetery guides titled Forever Dixie, Forever L.A., and Stories in Stone New York. He lives in Chico, California.

The intrigue of death in the City of Love

Paris, city of lights, city of love, city of magic, city of art, city of death. Around twelve million people call the Paris metropolitan area home, and millions more call it their permanent home, including upwards of seven million in the catacombs in the Montparnasse district.

The cemeteries and monuments in Stories in Stone Paris cut across a wide swath of the last two hundred years of Paris history. With this field guide in hand, discover the funerary architecture, memorials and symbolism within twenty-eight of Paris’ notable resting places, including GPS coordinates for many gravesites.

Death in the City of Love

Paris, city of lights, city of love, city of magic, city of art, city of death. Some twelve million people call the Paris metropolitan area home including about two and a quarter million within Paris’ 20 arrondissements. Millions more call Paris their permanent home, including upwards of seven million in the Catacombs (see page 1) in the Montparnasse district.

The Paris basin area was first inhabited around 4200 B.C. Then in around 250 B.C., a group of people known as the Parasii established a settlement that would stay. The Romans moved into the area in 52 B.C. and founded a settlement on the left bank of the Seine named Lutetia Parisiorum.

During Roman times, the Roman rulers applied their burial customs to the populace dictating that burials were to occur outside the town limits. The Law of the Twelve Tables stated, “it is forbidden to burn or inter a corpse within the walls.” The citizenry largely ignored that edict. As the years ticked on and Roman influence waned and was supplanted with Christian and Catholic tradition, most Parisians elected to bury around the perimeter of parish churches in areas known as God’s Acres. Wealthy and influential church officials were often buried within the walls and floors of the church. And in the words of modern-day realtors, it was location, location, location. The common belief was that the closer the body was to the altar, the better chance the deceased would be inched towards the heavens with the parishioners’ prayers. By the end of the eighteenth century, all of Paris’ fifty-two parish churches and their adjoining burial grounds were full to bursting with bodies. When all available space with the walls, floors and interior of the church was filled, even the elect and the well to do had to settle for ground burial. The dead were buried ten deep, but still there was not enough room, so they were often dug up and their bones piled high in gallery arcades and charnel houses surrounding the cemeteries. Cremation was not an option, since the Catholic Church expressly forbade it. No body = no resurrection.

Death in the City of Love vii

The Paris Catacombs 1

The Cemeteries 4

The Big Three 5

Père-Lachaise 7

Montmartre Cemetery 105

Montparnasse Cemetery 121

The Small Cemeteries 139

Passy Cemetery 141

St. Vincent Cemetery 149

Charonne Cemetery 155

Auteuil Cemetery 159

Picpus 163

Paris Dog Cemetery 167

Les Invalides 175

The Panthéon 181

Saint-Étienne-du-Mont 187

Saint-Denis 191

Eternal Excursions 197

Cemetery Architecture & Monument Styles 203

Cemetery Symbolism 217

Index 238

Acknowledgments 246

Map Insert

Additional information

Weight 1 oz
Dimensions 1 × 5 × 9 in