Oscar Wilde once wrote, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”, and now authorities in the city where the playwright is buried are offering residents the chance to feel close to the stars, even in death.
Paris is inviting its citizens to bid for a macabre prize – a burial spot in one of the French capital’s iconic and historic graveyards. “Lucky” participants in the lottery could even find themselves the proud owners of a final resting place within shouting distance of one of the world’s great and good, like Wilde himself.
The “Sauver un monument funéraire” (Save a funeral monument) scheme has been dreamt up as a way to compromise between the preservation of the city’s funeral heritage and the desire of Parisians to be laid to rest in the city they call home.
The most central, historic, and beloved cemeteries in Paris, such as Père-Lachaise, Montmartre, and Montparnasse, have been full since the early 20th century. Many of them contain the graves of famous people, from 1960s music legend Jim Morrison to great writers such as Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett, or France’s very own little sparrow, la môme Edith Piaf. Under normal circumstances, it is almost impossible for ordinary Parisians to get their hands on a plot nearby. Meanwhile, parts of the cemeteries are falling into disrepair.
But Paris City Hall, recognising these issues, has identified 30 funeral monuments, ten in each of the three iconic graveyards, in a “simple, classic style, essentially tombs, some with headstone” that it is putting up for sale. Under the trial approach, members of the public, as long as they live in Paris, can apply to purchase the lease or buy one of them outright, but they must undertake to restore it in a way that is faithful to the original within six months. To avoid any nasty surprises, candidates must also show they have consulted stonemasons and are aware of the costs of lease and repair involved.
Maps are available on the City Hall website showing the location of each of the three dozen available plots, along with fact sheets providing photos and descriptions of the monuments concerned. The closest one to Jim Morrison’s grave in Père Lachaise is labelled plot #1 in the 27th Division, just off the Chemin du Dragon and just a short walk from the Doors frontman’s tomb.
Meanwhile, number 17 in Montmartre is right next door to the Three Musketeers author Alexandre Dumas, and film director Francois Truffaut, and plot number 16 is just a short walk from the cemetery’s magnificent monument to singer Dalida. Further south in Montparnasse, plot 21 is just steps away from Serge Gainsbourg’s plot, where he is probably still singing Requiem for a Fool. Philosopher Simone de Beauvoir and her husband Jean Paul Sartre, who once declared, “Hell is other people,” also lie together in perpetuity nearby.
The winners of the Paris graveyard lottery will be announced in January 2026. The idea has proven popular, with over 1,000 clicks in the first hour of going online, AFP reported.
