THE cemetery of Père Lachaise in Paris holds the tomb of two extra-ordinary 12th-century thinkers renowned for their calamitous love affair: Héloïse et Abélard. Distinct from the others, in a corner close to the perimeter of the city’s largest necropolis, the sarcophagus is shaded by a High Gothic-style structure with Corinthian capitals, pointed arches and sculptural ornamentation. Iron railings defend the crypt, probably from illicit lovers cavorting in flagrante at the shrine of tragic love.
Designed by the
