General Information

The Picpus Cemetery is the largest private cemetery in Paris. It contains the remains of French aristocrats who had been guillotined during the French Revolution. The family members of some of the noblemen buried there in mass graves bought the area and established the cemetery. Some of those families retain the right to be buried there.

The Lafayette Tomb: Highlights

Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette lies in the Picpus Cemetery. He was buried there upon his death of pneumonia in 1834, next to his wife Adrienne de La Fayette, whose sister and mother were among those beheaded and thrown into the common pit. The American flag over his grave is rumoured to have been flown there continuously since 1834.