Cimetière Saint-Sulpice

“Hidden beneath the grandeur of Saint-Sulpice Church lies a secret world.” Cimetière Saint-Sulpice, a vast and forgotten city of the dead, awaits exploration. This isn’t the Saint-Sulpice Cemetery you might find on a map today. This is the story of the church’s forgotten burial grounds, a tale etched into the very stones of Paris. Cimetière Saint-Sulpice wasn’t just one cemetery, but a succession of six. Imagine the bustling streets of 18th-century Paris. The parish of Saint-Sulpice, the largest and most populous in the city, needed space for its departed. The first Cimetière Saint-Sulpice, a modest plot beside the original church, became the foundation upon which the current church stands. Its charnel house, built by Gamard, lies beneath the present-day Chapelle de l’Assomption. As the city grew, so did the need for burial space. A second cemetery, Sainte-Croix, opened on rue de Grenelle in 1652. Its lifespan was short. The land was sold in 1680 to fund the church choir’s expansion. The remains were moved to the third cemetery, known as the Cimetière des Aveugles. This cemetery lay north of the church, its gate facing the church’s side entrance. Seven communal graves, each reused every seven years, filled this rectangular plot. Ironically, the grand gates of this Cimetière Saint-Sulpice inspired the entrance to Père Lachaise Cemetery. After its closure in 1784, the site became the infamous Bal des Zéphirs, a dance hall where revelers danced upon forgotten tombstones. Cimetière Saint-Sulpice’s fourth incarnation, the Cimetière de la Trinité, took over from Sainte-Croix in 1689. Situated at the corner of rue du Bac and rue de Sèvres, it housed the remains from Sainte-Croix until its closure in 1747. It now lies beneath the oldest part of Le Bon Marché department store. The fifth cemetery, Cimetière de Bagneux, opened on rue Vaugirard. Its communal grave, designed for 500 bodies, often held more than it could handle. Marked by an hourglass and the inscription “Hodie mihi, cras tibi” (Today me, tomorrow you), this cemetery also met its end in 1784. Finally, the sixth Cimetière Saint-Sulpice opened on rue de Vaugirard, beyond the Fermiers Généraux wall. This became the core of what is now Vaugirard Cemetery. This final Cimetière Saint-Sulpice even played a role in Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables,” as the fictional burial place of Jean Valjean. Today, the lycée Buffon stands on this hallowed ground. The story of Cimetière Saint-Sulpice is a story of Paris itself, a city built upon layers of history, where life and death intertwine. Though the cemeteries are gone, their stories echo in the stones, whispering tales of a forgotten past beneath the grandeur of Saint-Sulpice.