Père-Lachaise Cemetery is the largest and best-known cemetery in Paris. The list of those buried there reads like a Who's Who, from the 12th century to the present day.

Here is a sampling of the famous people buried in Père-Lachaise Cemetery:

—Abelard and Heloise, theolgian and nun, star-crossed 12th century lovers

—Cubist/surrealist poet Guillaume Apollinaire

—Actress Sarah Berhhardt

—Composer Georges Bizet

—Opera singer Maria Callas (Her ashes were in a niche in the Père-Lachaise Columbarium, but were later scattered over the Aegean. The niche still bears her name.)

—Pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin

—Félix Faure, President of the French Republic 1895-99

—Jean de la Fontaine, 17th century author of fables

—Stéphane Grappelli, jazz violinist

—Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, credited with introducing a painless and dignified form of capital punishment to France

—Georges Haussmann, engineer and city planner, rebuilder of much of the city of Paris in the 1800s

—World-famous French mime Marcel Marceau

—Amédéo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor

—Molière, 17th century playwright and actor

—Singer and actor Yves Montand (with Simone Signoret)

—Jim Morrison, American singer (the Doors); his tomb is one of the most visited

—Édith Piaf, French singer and cultural icon

—Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro

—Writer Marcel Proust, best known for À la Recherche du Temps Perdu (Remembrance of Things Past)

—Banking baron Edmond James de Rothschild

—American author Gertrude Stein (with Alice B. Toklas)

—Irish novelist, poet, and playwright Oscar Wilde

That's just the beginning! Here are more famous people you might want to look up during your visit to Père Lachaise.

Métro: Gambetta (recommended) or Père-Lachaise

Père-Lachaise Cemetery website

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