Passy Cemetery


Passy Cemetery is a small cemetery in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France.

History

The current cemetery replaced the old cemetery, which was closed in 1802.
In the early 19th century, on the orders of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, all the cemeteries in Paris were replaced by several large new ones outside the precincts of the capital. Montmartre Cemetery was built in the north, Père Lachaise Cemetery in the east, and Montparnasse Cemetery in the south.
Opened in 1820 in the expensive residential and commercial districts of the Right Bank near the Champs-Élysées, by 1874 the small Passy Cemetery had become the aristocratic necropolis of Paris. It is the only cemetery in Paris to have a heated waiting-room.
The cemetery was once the home of a statue by Dunikowski titled The Soul Escaping the Body. It was on top of the ceremonial grave of Antoni Cierplikowski. The statue was known by many but was removed when the grave was cleared in 2004.
The current entrance was built in 1934. The retaining wall of the cemetery is adorned with a bas relief commemorating the soldiers who fell in World War I.

Location

The entrance of the cemetery is located at 2, Rue du Commandant Schlœsing. The street in which it is situated is named for a Free French pilot, Squadron Leader Jacques-Henri Schlœsing, who flew with the wartime RAF until killed in action, the day that Paris was liberated.
The cemetery is behind the Trocadéro.
Sheltered by a bower of chestnut trees, the cemetery is in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

Notable interments

Among its more famous burials are: