Paris Blooms Eternal


The weather on the April day we visited Pere Lachaise cemetery was spectacular, sunny
and warm with flowers bursting awake from their winter sleep.

 
[Ceramic flowers, Pere Lachaise, April 2, 2009; Images & Artwork: designslinger]

I have never visited a cemetery like this one, and the monuments created to
commemorate the dead are the best I've ever seen. Pere Lachaise had one more surprise waiting for me that I'd never encountered in a cemetery before glossy, glazed ceramic floral displays that decorate the graves of the deceased.

 
[Detail of ceramic flower on mold covered grave stone, Pere Lachaise; Images & Artwork: designslinger]

No cheesy plastic flowers for the French, or maybe I'm being to broad with that description,
it may just be the Parisians who've taken to embellishing grave sites with ceramics. However, or whomever, came up with the idea, it is a brilliant solution to the lack of soil in which to plant anything. Although cemeteries seem adverse to such actions these days, even if there is soil available.

 
[Two examples of glazed ceramic floral displays, Pere Lachaise; Images & Artwork: designslinger]

The cemetery sits on a hill, once known as Champ 'Eveque. Eventually the Jesuit's took
over the site, and built a hospice for their members in the 17th century. One of the Jesuits, Father Francois de la Chaise d'Aix, was Louis XIV's confessor, and known to the court as Le Pere La Chaise. After changing hands several times over the course of the next 100 plus years, the cemetery opened in 1804.

 
[Detail of ceramic flower sprouting green growth, Pere Lachaise; Images & Artwork: designslinger]

Now home to some of the most famous (and infamous) individuals in history, Pere
Lachaise is one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. Not one ceramic floral tribute rested on grave of any famous name we recognized. But to the visiting families of the dearly departed, the unusual and fascinating ceramic flowers are a lasting (and certainly better than plastic) homage to a life once lived.
Posted by designslinger at 4/30/2009 6:00 AM
Categories: Cities, Ephemera, Decorative Arts
Tags: Pere Lachaise grave decoration ceramics cemetery flowers
 

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  • 10/21/2009 2:16 AM Interior Door wrote:
    The ceramic flower really looks nice. At first I thought it was candle since it was on a cemetery. Very artistic.
    1. 10/21/2009 4:22 AM designslinger wrote:
      We've visited a lot of cemeteries, and these ceramic decorations were a first for us.

  • 12/25/2009 6:26 PM margaret wrote:
    Does any one know where I can purchase ceramic flowers & wreaths exactly like the ones in Pere Lachaise?
    1. 12/26/2009 4:15 AM designslinger wrote:
      We'd never seen ceramics like these until Paris. Apparently they are common in cemeteries in France. Haven't seen anything in the U.S.

  • 1/3/2011 9:14 PM Theresemijuskovic wrote:
    Very much true! On the other hand you expect something special for famous people and you are disappointed like the one of Simone Signoret/Yves Montand...
    Very interesting details!
    1. 1/6/2011 7:00 AM designslinger wrote:
      Thanks!
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