By Marine Ledoux
Published on 27 Feb 21 at 12:02
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One of the cemeteries of Bagneux (Hauts-de-Seine) belongs to the city of Paris, but is not located in its territory. Erected in 1886, it is the third largest cemetery in Paris. Its main entrance is located at 45, avenue Marx-Dormoy in Bagneux.
A decree of 1884 allowed the Paris town hall to acquire land, in the town of Bagneux, to erect a cemetery to cope with the increase in the Parisian population, but also the proliferation of individual burials.
More than 83,000 concessions and nearly 6,000 trees
This large cemetery of more than 64 hectares, has a total of more than 83,000 funeral grants. It is also, as the town hall of Bagneux shows, a haven conducive to the diversification of fauna and flora : “Each avenue of the cemetery is planted with a specific species of tree whose name it bears, such as avenue des Peupliers” and many others.
In total, 6,000 trees line the paths of the cemetery, “with 49 different species”, recalls the City. Many species of‘birds or red squirrels populate this place.
The graves of Barbara, Frida Boccara, and even Oscar Wilde
The town hall insists on the importance of this cemetery in the commemorative universe: there are notably the graves of the singers Frida Boccara or Barbara. The cemetery will also be served by the station of metro 4 Barbara, still under construction.
Oscar Wilde also rested there for a while at the beginning of the 20th century, before one of his friends and legatee Robert Rosse offers him a concession to the famous cemetery of Father Lachaise, in the XXth district of Paris. His tomb is now recognized as French historical monuments.
WWII commemorative monuments
The cemetery’s duty to remember also benefits the whole of France, with several memorials to the Second World War erected within it. Facing the third division, in front of avenue de Montrouge, there is for example a dedicated stele to the victims of the Shoah who do not have a grave.
In addition, it is also a symbol of the “new” cemeteries, as we know them today, with its tree-lined paths, suitable for a visit. These cemeteries have only existed since the second half of the 19th century.th century.
Cemeteries prior to the 19th century
Formerly, cemeteries were not places of meditation and pilgrimage as they are now. The graves did not exist. Reports and decrees were then awarded at the end of the 18th century.th and during the XIXth century to denounce the lack of hygiene in these places, where foul odors reigned in particular, say ” mephitic (Poisonous and smelly).
The enclosures of the cemeteries then had to be located outside the town centers and villages. Exhumation and the “liberation” of regular graves were then the rule. Then, the French cemetery as we know it developed. That of Bagneux is one of the first.
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