The Secret Life of a Cemetery
The Wild Nature and Enchanting Lore of Père-Lachaise
Benoît Gallot’s book explores France’s famed Père-Lachaise Cemetery, the final resting place for centuries of Parisians and the site of numerous celebrity graves, including those of Frédéric Chopin, Colette, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison.
Gallot became the curator of Père-Lachaise in 2018; the son of a funerary stonemason, he was raised within the “death care industry.” His cemetery management career coincided with Paris’s green initiatives for pesticide-free grounds maintenance. Père-Lachaise’s controlled landscape gave way to a flourishing of wildflowers, butterflies, bees, and animal life. Fascinated by this biodiversity, Gallot created an Instagram account and began posting photographs of the natural splendor emerging amid the vast expanse of graves, tombs, and monuments.
The book’s striking photographs feature the foxes, cats, martens, parakeets, and crows that live within Père-Lachaise’s confines. There is also extensive information about the cemetery itself, from its 1804 founding to its current acceptance of “three thousand new occupants each year.” With genial pride and compassion, Gallot serves as a engaging guide through Père-Lachaise while contemplating universal matters of death, remembrance, and regeneration.
Contrasting solemn resplendence with the vibrancy of renewal, The Secret Life of a Cemetery is a historical and cultural delight.
Reviewed by
Meg Nola
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
