Cimetière de Picpus

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Entrance to the cemetery on the left and the Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix chapel on the right

The Cimetière de Picpus is the largest private cemetery in the Picpus district in Paris ( France ).

It is home to the mass graves of 1,306 victims of the reign of terror that in the short space of 14 June until the fall of Robespierre on 27 July 1794 at the du Trone renversé Place (now Place de la Nation ) under the guillotine were executed, and graves of Family members of these persons. Other cemeteries in Paris where victims of the guillotine were buried during the reign of terror are the Cimetière des Errancis , the Cimetière de la Madeleine and the Cimetière de Sainte-Marguerite .

The cemetery was secretly bought up by Amalie Zephyrine von Salm-Kyrburg in 1797 and operated in 1840 by a group of influential families whose family members can still be buried there today. A burial requires relatives to one of the guillotines and the operators of the cemetery and is an important status symbol. The part of the cemetery in which the mass graves are located can only be visited by prior arrangement for an entrance fee and as part of a guided tour, the other part is open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday afternoon. The entire facility is a listed building.

history

In the 17th century, there was an Augustinian convent on the site of the cemetery , which was adjacent to the former customs wall known as the “mur des fermiers généraux”. After the outbreak of the revolution , the monastery was confiscated in 1792 and rented to the Citoyen Coignard, who set up a convalescent home there. The city of Paris confiscated the cloister garden on the 25th Prairial An II (June 13th 1794), broke an opening in the wall and had two mass graves excavated for those beheaded on the Place du Trône Renversé (at today's Place de la Nation) .

Among the martyrs of the Revolution are the sixteen Blessed Carmelites of Compiègne , who were guillotined on the 29th of Messidor An II (July 17, 1794) for refusing to break their vows and renounce their faith. They were beatified on May 27, 1906.

The cemetery was closed in 1795 and two years later came into the possession of Princess Amalie Zephyrine von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , whose brother Friedrich III. Prince zu Salm-Kyrburg rests in one of the mass graves. The right to be buried there was reserved for family members. The first burial took place in 1805.

In 1803, twelve families took over the park and the cemetery with the mass graves in it. These families (including the Noailles family with the Marquis de Lafayette , who also rests there) are the owners to this day. In 1802 the following people belonged to the operator community:

  1. Madame Montagu, b. LD de Noailles, President
  2. Maurice de Montmorency
  3. Aimard de Nicolaï
  4. Madame Rebours, b. Barville
  5. Madame Freteau, b. Moreau
  6. Adrienne de La Fayette , b. Adrienne de Noailles
  7. Madame Titon, b. Benterot
  8. Madame Faudoas, b. de Bernières
  9. Madame Charton, b. Chauchat
  10. Philippe de Noailles de Poix
  11. Theodule M. de Grammont

In addition, a convent was founded to protect the graves for the free right to stay and to pray for the victims in the mass graves. During the Paris Commune , almost 80 nuns were taken hostage and murdered by members of the Commune.

The inheritable right to lie at a grave site is still a prestige symbol of the first order. During the German occupation from 1940 to 1944, the Rothschild hospital in the immediate vicinity was a collection point for the deportation of French Jews, the park of the monastery was also occupied by the occupiers. The mass graves, however, were never entered by a German soldier.

The chapel

A simple chapel built around 1840 by the architect J. A. Froelicher was dedicated to the memory of the dead and was entrusted to the " Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and the Eternal Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament ", which, according to the location of their mother house, also Picpus Society and accordingly their brothers are called Picpus-Fathers or Picpus-Missionaries (German Arnsteiner Fathers , since 1919). The interior of the chapel is clad in the lower area with large marble panels. The names of all the dead who rest in the two mass graves were engraved on these. The long list could be created on the basis of the stored process files. The altar is dedicated to Notre-Dame de la Paix (German: Our Lady of Peace). A painting commemorates the sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne.

Funerals

In the mass graves of the "Cimetière de Picpus" rest:

  • 1109 men, including 579 people from the people, 178 members of the military, 136 civil servants, 108 clergymen and 108 aristocrats
  • 197 women, including 123 common women, 23 nuns, 51 aristocrats

To be emphasized are:

In the second cemetery, which was built later, rest among other things:

Although none of their ancestors were victims of the revolution, there are also the graves of honor of:

  • the historian Lenôtre, for his contribution to the research of the cemetery,
  • the Catholic religious priest Pierre Coudrin (1768–1837) and Henriette Aymer de la Chevalerie , founder of the "Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and the Eternal Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament" (1800)

Address: 35 rue de Picpus, 75012 Paris. Open 2pm - 5pm. (closed on Sundays and public holidays)

Web links

Commons : Cimetière de Picpus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ previously Place du Trône
  2. ^ Website of the Congregation
  3. ↑ Lafayette rests at his wife's side. They owed the privilege of being buried here to the fact that Lafayette's mother-in-law and sister-in-law died under the guillotine.
  4. ↑ The "Société des Cincinnati de France" should not be confused with the American "Society of the Cincinnati" founded by George Washington , of which it is a member.

Coordinates: 48 ° 50 ′ 38 ″  N , 2 ° 24 ′ 1 ″  E