Monmartre Cemetery

     In Paris, the scale of most buildings and statues is enormous, as if made by giants.  Everything seems to tower. Looming structures with intricate beauty.  We can criticize the intent of some of these places - the egomaniac mentality of the Arc de Triomphe or the gluttony of scale of the Louvre - but under no instance can we argue that, whatever their purpose or inspiration, they were made magnificently.  Among the most glorious examples are the churches, each with their own unique signature of grandeur and spark of numinous beauty, such is Sainte-Chapelle with its grand stained glass, overpowering in its splendor, and vaulted ceilings of painted stars.  Walking into Notre Dame, the force of its undeniable beauty fell heavily upon me.  It was a physical sensation of ethereal elegance.  The soul of astounding exquisiteness hung through the air like the quiet stillness of a heavy snow fall, the way it seems to move and linger at the same time and silences everything. 

Monmartre Cemetery.  Photo by April Lynn Downey.

     While wandering the streets of Paris, we eventually made our way to the Monmartre Cemetery.  There my soul fell in deep stillness as the diminutive city of the dead sprawled before me in a sort of shallow valley which crossed directly under Pont de Caulaincourt, a busy bridge full of traffic, which did not seem to notice the dead beneath them.  I was in a world of architecture for the dead which was as beautiful as that of the living but which required more quiet, more solitude.  Each small structure was a statement of an individual life who once lived and now had passed on.  They were carefully and beautifully designed and whispered on behalf of the dead, “I was here. Remember me.”  It was a domain of remembrance.  And of solitary black cat, who prowled among the stone and marble with the comfortable superiority that all cats possess.  As caretaker, as watcher, and perhaps as a companion for the spirits here.  He wouldn’t say.  It was not his obligation to tell me these things.  So I watched and he strolled away among the tombs, never revealing what he may have been witness to or which shades he loved the most.

Monmartre Cemetery.  Photo by April Lynn Downey.

      Monmartre Cemetery proper was opened in 1825, but it has an older, grimmer history.  Originally a gypsum quarry, the place was used as a mass grave site during the French Revolution.  Many famous people were buried here, as well as thousands upon thousands of the not so famous. Perhaps one of the more ironic residents is that of Charles Henri Sanson, the Royal Executioner of France during the late 18^th century.  Here he was interred as a neighbor to many of his “patrons”.  While working many years in his position, he beheaded thousands of people, including King Louis XVI, and now his tomb rests with many of their graves.  But he is just one story in the 25 acres of burials.
      I felt oddly enthralled by this cemetery, this architectural marvel for the dead.  The feeling was intense, as if I had been there before and I needed to be there again.  Like going home after having grown up and moved away.   This feeling was unexplainable, as I peered down to the shrines of stone.

     I headed home across the Atlantic, back to everything I have ever known and back to life’s daily beauty.  I came to Europe to explore and to see places, beautiful and mysterious, and to perhaps find myself again, as we often get ourselves lost navigating the daily chores and schedules.  However, once away from the usual mundane expectations of life, I found myself as myself.  My desires, my inner turmoil, my outward curiosity – all of them I left home with and with all of them I returned.  I feel I could have left them in Paris; it is a beautiful place to lay things to rest after all.  I was free to bury my wild musings and random longings in the cemetery as playmates for the black cat. 

     But I didn’t.

Black cat wandering Monmartre Cemetery.  Photo by April Lynn Downey.

REFERENCES:

“Paris Cemeteries: Cimetiere de Montmartre” http://www.pariscemeteries.com/montmartre-1/

“10 Good Reasons to Visit Historic Montmartre Cemetery” https://www.parisinsidersguide.com/montmartre-cemetery.html

“Discover the Monmartre Cemetery in Paris” https://frenchmoments.eu/montmartre-cemetery/