Classical · Cemeteries

Batignolles Cemetery

Paris

Batignolles Cemetery is a cemetery in Paris, located in the Épinettes district in the northeast of the 17th arrondissement. Its entrance is at the intersection of Rue Saint-Just and Avenue du Cimetière des Batignolles. The cemetery lies between Boulevard Périphérique and Lycée International Honoré de Balzac. Inaugurated on August 22, 1833, it extends over nearly eleven hectares and is slightly larger than Cemitério de Montmartre. It contains approximately fifteen thousand graves, making it the fourth largest cemetery within Paris city limits by number of graves. Only Cemitério do Père-Lachaise and Cemitério do Montparnasse are larger by area. The grounds include approximately nine hundred mature trees, mainly chestnuts and maples. Part of the cemetery was closed and graves were moved because of construction of Boulevard Périphérique between Porte de Clichy and Porte de Saint-Ouen, and Avenida das Fortificações is no longer accessible from the cemetery as of 2009. Batignolles Cemetery is also the burial place of several notable figures, including André Barsacq, Alexandre Benois, André Breton, Alfred Bruneau, Lucienne Bréval, Gaston Calmette, Blaise Cendrars, Léon Dierx, Pierre Dreyfus, Marguerite Durand, Hélène Dutrieu, and Cora Pérola.

Map showing the location of Batignolles Cemetery in Paris
Location of Batignolles Cemetery in Paris

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Location, Size, and Layout

Batignolles Cemetery is a cemetery in Paris, located in the Epinettes district in the northeast part of the 17th arrondissement. Its entrance is at the intersection of Rue Saint-Just and Avenue du Cimetiere des Batignolles, and it lies between Boulevard Peripherique and Lycee International Honore de Balzac. The cemetery was inaugurated on August 22, 1833.

The site extends over nearly eleven hectares and contains approximately fifteen thousand graves. By number of graves, it is the fourth largest cemetery within the Paris city limits. In terms of area, only Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise and Cimetiere du Montparnasse are larger. It is slightly larger than Cimetiere de Montmartre. The cemetery also contains approximately nine hundred mature trees, mainly chestnuts and maples.

Part of the cemetery was closed and graves were moved because of the construction of Boulevard Peripherique between Porte de Clichy and Porte de Saint-Ouen. In 2009, Avenida das Fortificacoes was no longer accessible from the cemetery due to the construction of apartment buildings.

Notable Burials at Batignolles

Batignolles Cemetery is the burial place of a number of notable figures, reflected in its enterros notaveis. These include Andre Barsacq, Alexandre Benois, Andre Breton, Alfred Bruneau, Lucienne Breval, Gaston Calmette, Blaise Cendrars, Leon Dierx, Pierre Dreyfus, Marguerite Durand, Helene Dutrieu, Cora Perola, Josephin Peladan, Benjamin Peret, Ray Ventura, Paul Vidal, and Edouard Vuillard. Andre Zirnheld is also buried there in the family tomb. The range of names associated with the cemetery indicates its role as a burial site for figures from different cultural and public spheres.

Notable Burials

The Enterros notables section includes the carré russe-orthodoxe in division 25, which was a popular burial site for members of the Orthodox Russian community before the opening of Cemitario Russo de Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois. It contains the graves of Leon Bakst, Sergei Lyapunov, Pavel Milyukov, and Pavel Ryabushinsky. Feodor Chaliapin was also buried there before his remains were relocated to Cemitario Novodevichy in Moscow. Paul Verlaine's grave was originally in division 20 before being moved to the roundabout at Avenida Principale and Avenue Transversale. The cemetery also contains a Commonwealth British war grave of a Royal Air Force officer from 1918.