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ParisPicpus Cemetery

Picpus Cemetery is small but nevertheless the largest privately owned cemetery in Paris. It's best known as the final resting place of Gilbert du Motier - Marquis de Lafayette. The cemetery is located behind a large wooden door at 35 rue de Picpus near Place de la Nation in Paris' 12th arrondissement. Closest metro stops are Place de la Nation and Picpus.

Picpus Cemetery is on land seized from a religious order - Chanoinesses de St-Augustin, during the Revolution. During the Reign of Terror Picpus Cemetery was used as a mass grave for 1,306 men and women who were guillotined at Place de la Nation, then known as place du Trône-Renversé. The doorway that bodies passed through is still standing and the mass graves are marked.

Adrienne de Noailles - Madame de La Fayette was one of the people behind turning Picpus into a cemetery. Some of her family were guillotined at Place de la Nation and buried in Picpus's mass grave. Madame de La Fayette was buried in Picpus Cemetery on 24 December 1807. Her husband was buried next to her in May 1834. An American flag flies continually over their grave and has done so even during the Nazi occupation.

On the grounds of Picpus Cemetery is a church built in 1841. The church walls are lists of those guillotined at place du Trône-Renversé. To the left of the church is the entrance that leads to the cemetery. At the entrance is a commemorative plaque for the arrival of General Pershing and the American army in France during WWI. On July 4, 1917 Pershing visited Lafayette's grave and his aide Charles E. Stanton stated "Lafayette, we are here!"

When you enter Picpus Cemetery from the street, on the right is a small office. That's where you'll pay the entrance fee of €2 (2012). You'll be given a map - in French or English of the cemetery. To get to Lafayette's grave you'll need to walk pass the church on the right, walk through the open space behind the church. Then you'll enter the cemetery to the right and Lafayette's grave is at the far right-hand end.

Lafayette's grave is next to the mass grave. Opposite Lafayette's grave is a door that leads to more open space. On the far wall is the doorway bodies passed through after being guillotined. There is a commemorative plaque.

Picpus Cemetery is open in the afternoon Tuesday to Saturday. This web site has more information including a map of the cemetery.

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