During the long period in 2021 where cinemas, museums, bars and restaurants were closed in Paris, I spent more and more time exploring the cemeteries of Paris (free, open and where it was easy not to wear a mask). Unlike the ‘big 3’ (Père Lachaise and its picturesque paths, Montparnasse and Montmartre), the cemetery of Passy is quite small but still pretty dense in terms of funerary artwork, grandiose chapels and famous names.

Adjacent to one of the most famous squares in Paris (the Trocadéro being a common vantage point to admire the Eiffel Tower), this cemetery is nevertheless quite easy to miss, since it is located on a height, surrounded by a big wall and with its entrance in a side street about 50 meters away. For this reason, it is rarely crowded and looks like a haven of peace, just a few blocks from usually busy touristic areas…

Among the famous personalities buried here are composers Claude Debussy and Gabriel Fauré, painters Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, actors Fernandel, Madeleine Renaud, and Jean-Louis Barrault, the iconic lesbian poetess Renée Vivien…

It is also a common place to be buried if you belong to Parisian aristocracy or industrial bourgeoisie (like members of Renault, Bouygues, Bolloré, or Dassault families) since Passy is one of the wealthiest districts of the West of Paris. The most impressive chapels and monuments are near the Art Deco entrance and in divisions 14 and 15.