Almost Infinite Père Lachaise . . .

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In Paris for an appointment on Monday morning, I couldn't help but take a short stroll through Père Lachaise Cemetery on my way home, given that I was already in the neighborhood. Père Lachaise is such a vast and dense burial ground, an almost infinite open air museum, that each time I venture into those criss-crossing alleys and winding paths of memory and history, invariably I come away amazed at all that can be found there, even when simply wandering at random, without the use of a guide or map, as I did the other day. While treading the cobblestone streets or remote corners along the cemetery walls, one can find all manner of fascinating memorials and funerary artwork, or touching details among objects left in veneration and mourning at the solemn place of eternal rest for a loved one. It is always a challenge for me to choose among the photographs taken therein, to select a few to share with you out of the total. The other day I made over 150 photos inside those ancient walls, what follows is just a handful. And appropriate for an entry on Julie's Taphophile Tragics meme out in Australia.
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This first caught my attention when I stumbled on it by chance; a foot surgeon who had cared for the toes of those no less than the brother of Louis XVI, the imperial Napoleon and Josephine, and who later ministered to the podiatry of Charles X. Quite an illustrious career for Tobias Koen who lived to be well over 90 years of age. I wonder what tales he could tell of such remarkable toes, nails, arches, or insteps, and what royal odors he may have been thus subjected to as an occupational hasard, what insights into their elevated souls he may have gained through studying their soles ? 
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An angel's wing, ready to take flight toward destinations unknown...
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A cherub performing a disappearing act, disintegrating into grainy, sooty oblivion...
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Fallen flowers with feather; forgotten, faded, forlorn... (but photographed)
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A minimalist crucifixion, headless, armless, legless, harmless...
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A cluster of ragged reproduction roses, worn, frayed, tired, but retaining their rosy colors and rosy forms...
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When I took this photo of a lovely praying young beauty, I failed to notice the two ladybugs who had settled in close communion in her sculpted hair...
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From both fore and aft she radiated loveliness...
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Père Lachaise is on a hilly piece of ground, and thus is built up on several levels, some requiring stairways to ascend or descend from one area to another...
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One can find all sorts of stories there, like that of this Iranian Kurd leader, assassinated in Vienna in 1989, but buried in Paris. Mysteriously the three people allegedly responsible for his murder were allowed to leave Austria and return to Iran. No one ever stood trial for his death, nor the deaths of the two other Kurd representatives who were killed with him.
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Before coming upon this tombstone by chance I'd never heard of Jean-Baptiste Clément, nor his well known song "Le Temps des Cérises". A fine example of why wandering in cemeteries can be a culturally enriching activity.
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This small angel had lost her wings. What sort of brute would break the wings off an angel ?
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This grave looking young man died in captivity in Germany during WWI at the age of 21, having served as a machine gunner during the war. He now gazes into an impenetrable distance.
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Although I searched a bit I couldn't come up with any details about L. Barbot, who is remembered as a historien of Père Lachaise. But my searching did lead me to a website about cemeteries that I had not come across before containing large numbers of photographs and much other information about cemeteries, primarily in Paris and France, but with many entries from other places in the world... if you have minute do take a look at lescimetieres dot com.
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Finally for today one last tomb of interest found during a haphazard exploration is that of René Mesmin who died while making a second attempt to establish a distance record by flying from Paris to Tokyo in 1931. A first attempt had already ended in failure with the loss of an aircraft and a brush with death over Siberia, but he persisted, and the second effort proved fatal. Searching for information about Mesmin led me to another website I had not previously come across, which also contains a wealth of information and photos about Père Lachaise : the APPL, which stands for Amis et Passionnés du Père Lachaise... Friends and people passionate for Père Lachaise Cemetery. Happy hunting. Or should I say, happy haunting ?
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