The current cemetery replaced the old cemetery (l'ancien cimetière communal de Passy, located on Rue Lekain), which was closed in 1802.
In the early 19th century, on the orders of
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, all the cemeteries in Paris were replaced by several large new ones outside the precincts of the capital.
Montmartre Cemetery was built in the north,
Père Lachaise Cemetery in the east, and
Montparnasse Cemetery in the south. Passy Cemetery was a later addition, but has its origins in the same edict.
The current entrance was built in 1934 (designed by René Berger). The retaining wall of the cemetery is adorned with a
bas relief (by Louis Janthial) commemorating the soldiers who fell in
World War I.
Notes
Opened in 1820 in the expensive residential and commercial districts of the
Right Bank near the Champs-Élysées, by 1874 the small Passy Cemetery had become the aristocratic
necropolis of Paris. It is the only cemetery in Paris to have a heated waiting-room.
Sheltered by a bower of
chestnut trees, the cemetery is in the shadow of the
Eiffel Tower.
The cemetery was once the home of a statue by
Dunikowski titled The Soul Escaping the Body. It was on top of the ceremonial grave of
Antoni Cierplikowski. The statue was known by many but was removed when the grave was cleared in 2004.[1]
It is known as a small but well visited cemetery (Petit mais bien fréquenté).
Marie Bashkirtseff (1858–1884), Ukrainian artist famous for her published journal; her tomb is a recreation of her studio and has been declared a historical monument by the government of France
The entrance of the cemetery is located at 2, Rue du Commandant Schlœsing. The street in which it is situated is named for a
Free French pilot, Squadron Leader
Jacques-Henri Schlœsing (1919–1944), who flew with the wartime RAF until killed in action, the day that Paris was liberated.