Montmartre's discreet Calvary Cemetery is more interesting than it looks. Paris's smallest cemetery, but also the oldest cemetery in Paris, this turnip field perched on the Butte rarely reveals its mysteries… Care to come in?
Hidden behind the imposing Resurrection Gate, a bronze sculpture signed Tomasco Gismondi, the Calvary Cemetery is a real curiosity to see in Paris. Once the gate closes behind you, Montmartre and its visitors seem a world away. There’s a uniquely tranquil hush in the 600 m2 of its enclosure. Only 85 graves have weathered the ages, under the benevolent gaze of the bell tower of the Saint-Pierre de Montmartre church.
Created in 1688, expanded in 1697 and then closed during the Revolution less than a century later, it reopened in 1801. While building the Sacré Cœur in 1875/1876, Merovingian sarcophagi were unearthed at its current site. The oldest cemetery in Paris would thus be far older than we thought!
By the way, among its famous residents, one can try to decipher the writings eroded by time of a few Montmartre figures. The Debray family, the millers behind the Moulin de la Galette, Félix Desportes, Montmartre’s first mayor, or Christophe Caires de Blazère, the priest of Saint-Pierre who oversaw the opening of today’s Rue Lepic.
All these evocations and anecdotes have made you want to tread the wild grass of this unusual Parisian cemetery, and that's perfectly natural. Unfortunately, the Calvaire Cemetery only reveals its mysteries on November 1 and during the Heritage Days!
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Location
Cimetière du Calvaire
2 Rue du Mont-Cenis
75018 Paris 18
Route planner
Access
Abbesses metro station (line 12)
Prices
Free
The most beautiful cemeteries in Paris and Île-de-France, where history meets famous personalities
