The cemetery, which covers 44 hectares, contains 100,000 burial places and since opening has had over one million burials. The main entrance is on Boulevard de M nilmontant where visitors can pick up maps showing locations of some of the more famous gravesites.
Chestnut trees line some of the avenues, giving the visitor the relaxing feel of a country park.
Famous people in history that now rest there in peace include the writer Oscar Wilde, rock singer Jim Morrison, the writer Marcel Proust, actress Simone Signoret, and composer and pianist, Frederic Chopin. When I visited a few years ago, wandering between the tombs and gargoyles that flank a crisscross of meandering pathways over the vast expanse of the cemetery, I was struck by the ambience that lingered in the shadows of these famous names. With some curiosity I followed the arrows to the hallowed place - but only to find a dishevelled and rather ordinary, unkempt grave. Remembrance, it seemed, now spared scant attention to his mortal remains. Oscar Wilde's resting place provided stark contrast.