Paris Cemetery and Cultural Memory Map

 　　What is Paris? Balzac said: "Paris is a veritable ocean, and no detector will ever know its depth." Hemingway's dedication to the title page of "The Feast of the Flow" reads: "If you were lucky enough to be young Having lived in Paris, she will be with you wherever you go for the rest of your life, because Paris is a moving feast." People who have been to Paris said with emotion: "In this short life, if I didn't fall in love with Paris, how bleak my world would be!" The history of Paris can use all verbs, and the charm of Paris will occupy all adjectives , Paris is the habitation of all nouns. There will always be a "Paris complex" in everyone's heart. Paris inspires everyone's imagination, and people's imagination continues to enrich Paris with new connotations. "Paris is not just a place, it has become a state of mind. , a way of life".

　　The center of Paris, the center of the world, where is her soul? That is, generations of literati, they have created the cultural ecology of Paris, they have created the cultural spirit of Paris, and they have constructed the cultural map of Paris. At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, Napoleon spread the spirit of freedom, democracy and fraternity of France to every land in Europe. Paris began to become a shelter for political exiles and a home for artistic wanderers. Paris gave birth to a large number of outstanding literati such as Stendhal, Hugo, Balzac, Baudelaire, George Sand, Zola, Gide, Camus, Sartre, etc. At the same time, it also welcomed Turgenev, Herzen, Picasso, Benjamin, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Nabokov, Kundera and other exiles and wanderers. Their cultural background, knowledge structure, and religious beliefs are different, but they are all accepted and accommodated by the international metropolis of Paris. In Paris, they can unleash their vitality and creativity without restraint or restriction. And after their death, they have a common destination, that is the cemetery. A statue, a tombstone, a handful of loess, several bouquets of flowers, and a few epitaphs all tell their past lives.

　　The word cemetery originates from the Greek koimeterion and the Latin coemeterium, meaning resting place. After the rise of Christian culture, Christians buried the dead in churches or cemeteries behind churches. There are many such scenes in Gothic novels. Such cemeteries are called church cemeteries. After entering the 18th century, the rapid population expansion driven by the Industrial Revolution made church cemeteries overcrowded, breeding plagues, and having a great impact on people's health. The custom of burying the dead in church cemeteries has been gradually abolished by legislation in many countries. They have been replaced by state-sponsored cemeteries, often located far from densely populated areas and old towns, owned by municipalities or run by private companies. Lachaise Cemetery is a garden-style cemetery initiated by Napoleon under this background. When Napoleon conquered Europe, he also brought this form of cemetery to other places, and modern forms of cemetery have been established. After nearly 200 years of development, Paris has established 14 cemeteries. In addition to Lachaise Cemetery, the prestigious cemeteries include Montparnasse Cemetery in the south of Paris, Montmartre Cemetery in the north and Parne Cemetery near the Eiffel Tower. These four cemeteries are listed as historic buildings.

　　Lachaise Cemetery is the oldest, largest and most famous cemetery in Paris. Its official name is "Eastern Cemetery". It is located in the 20th district of Paris and covers an area of ​​118 acres. Lachaise Cemetery, named after Father Lachaise, the confessor of Louis XIV, was the private villa given to Lachaise by Louis XIV. After Paris emptied the Saint Innocent cemetery in the Real district in 1786, the city government bought the land and turned it into a cemetery. At that time, Lachaise Cemetery was far from the city, and people rarely chose to be buried there. The city government boosted the popularity of this cemetery through the relocations of La Fontaine and Molière, as well as Abelard and Heloise (whose love story is famous all over the world). So far, millions of people have been buried. There are more than 2,000 celebrities who have passed away. Montparnasse Cemetery is located in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. This cemetery was formerly a three farm. In 1824, the city government purchased the site to replace the village of Vaugilar and the cemetery of St. Catherine for the residents of the left bank of the Seine. 10 hectares of land. Different from Lachaise Cemetery, the cemeteries in the cemetery are horizontal and vertical, very regular, and the garden is densely covered with more than 1,200 trees of various types such as ash, maple, and conifer. Since the construction of the tomb, more than 300,000 people have been buried here and the rate of increase is more than 1,000 every year. There are cemeteries of Maupassant, Baudelaire, Sartre, Marshal Pétain, Citroen, Dreyfus and others. . The Montmartre Cemetery is located in Rue Ruixuere in the 18th arrondissement. It was established in 1825 on an abandoned quarry and covers an area of ​​about 10 hectares. Berlioz, Zola, Stendhal, Offenbach, Heine, Stendhal and others are buried here.

　　Paris has scenic spots: Notre Dame Cathedral, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Élysées, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Elysee Palace, Versailles Palace, Louvre Museum, each of which is enough to make people fascinated. But for any cultural person, when they come to Paris, they will always visit the cemetery. They go there not for visual enjoyment, but to pay their respects and listen to the echo of the soul. Famous people from all walks of life are buried in the cemetery, and their extraordinary achievements make the cemetery have an extraordinary meaning, which makes the audience flood. The cemetery in Paris is definitely not a dark tomb, withered vines and old trees, but full of agile and fresh breath of life. Mr. Xiong Peiyun sighed in "Paris Cemetery Book": "The cemetery in Paris is like a miniature architectural art museum. Here, there is no hell, no heaven, or even death. When you wander in the cemetery, it is like walking In a quiet earthly city." This is the world of sculpture, and sculptures of various styles, shapes, and themes reflect each other, which will always give people a refreshing feeling. It is simple here. Many celebrities don’t boast about their deeds on their tombstones. They even have simple names and birth and death years. Their names themselves cover the ups and downs of their lives. Some epitaphs are short and intriguing. There are only a few simple sentences on Stendhal's tombstone: "Henri Bell, a Milanese, rests here. He lived, wrote, and fell in love." The surrealist poet Apollinaire's tombstone The first line of the poem is "I will die smiling". Although they are in a busy city, they can rest here in peace. The mottled marble eroded by the wind, the flowing patina, and the murmur of the wind between the branches tell us a legend that will never fade.

　　The Paris cemetery is a map full of history and culture. There are many strangers buried in the Paris cemetery. In the Lachaise cemetery, there are British writer Wilde, American dancer Duncan, Russian ballet master Nijinsky, Italian composer Rossini, Polish pianist Chopin, and even from China. Wenzhou people. They were underappreciated entertainers, cynical dissidents, fortune-seeking adventurers, and retired successful men of different races and cultures. They drifted to Paris, took root, gained nourishment, and raced against life. After they fell, they still enjoyed a resting place in the cemetery and became neighbors with strangers. The Montparnasse Cemetery has built a special monument for the police and firefighters who died in the line of duty. Regardless of occupation or status, as long as they contribute to society, they will occupy a place in people's memory. The dignified Paris Commune wall is in the same garden as the towering mausoleum of Thiers (the repressor of the Paris Commune), Captain Dreyfus is in the same city as the tomb of Zola (who defends the former), their No matter how incompatible, incompatible, or intimate and intimate, all the history attached to them in the cemetery was temporarily forgotten. In the past, even if they committed unforgivable sins, they would not be opened to slaughter, and their souls were all respected equally and enjoyed the peace they deserved. Two adjacent tombs, their owners may have lived hundreds of years apart, and now there is only the width of a path from one time to another, and the depth of history seems to freeze in an instant.

　　Had to write about a funeral in Paris. Funerals are a unique feature of everyday life in Paris and can even evolve into important cultural events. The news of the death of some important people will attract a large number of citizens and even people from all over the world to attend. On the day of the funeral, they will spontaneously flood the streets, silently seeing off the people they admire in their hearts. Even without deliberate propaganda and extravagance, there are long queues before and after the hearse. In 1885, after Hugo's death, the French government held a state funeral for him, claiming that more than 2 million people from all over the world attended the funeral spontaneously. In 1980, Sartre died at the Rousse Hospital in Paris. People attending the funeral that day filled the streets, roofs and trees. Newspapers reported that 50,000 people attended the funeral. Of course, it is not uncommon for a funeral procession of this size to be in numbers, but intellectuals such as Hugo and Sartre will criticize society and express different voices. They are outliers in society. Be defamed, slandered, abused or even persecuted. It is their spirit of daring to intervene in life that has won the respect and support of countless people and inspired those who pursue truth, freedom and justice. Their appearance has changed the track of the existing cultural forms. Their creations will affect the history of France and the whole world for decades or even hundreds of years. Their passing is the loss of the entire human race. People spontaneously participated in the farewell team to express their endless regret for the loss of their souls and to pay tribute to the passing of a great spirit.

　　In the quiet cemetery, we understand Paris; in the vast funeral procession, we understand Paris; in the heart of Paris, we understand Paris. Their bodies are hidden underground forever, and their exploits are immortalized in the world. The French Symbolist poet Paul Valéry wrote in "The Riviera Cemetery":

　　Full of invisible flames, closed, holy

　　This is a land dedicated to the light!