The Guardian

In the dilapidated cemeteries of Paris, a grave is only for the rich

Shortage of space in city cemeteries means most Parisians are shipped to suburbs after death
Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Photograph: Bruno De Hogues/Getty

Even the dead, it seems, cannot escape the rocketing property prices of Paris.

A shortage of burial plots means the wealthy are being asked to stump up as much as €15,528 for a place in a city cemetery while the poor are being shipped out to the . Even fame and wealth, however, cannot guarantee a final resting place in one of Paris’s 14 inner-city cemeteries, such as Père Lachaise, where Chopin, Balzac, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf and Jim Morrison are

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