I visited the coolest graveyard over the weekend. It is kind of like the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, only smaller and much less ... famous. It holds all the renowned Lyonnais personalities and then some. It is absolutely gorgeous and, bien sur, a little creepy.
First you take the Furnicular, built in 1878, up the hill. Steep!
Then you walk past the massive Basilica of Fourviere.
Round the corner to the base of the Lyonnaise Metal Tower.
At night, from afar.
Then you walk through a gorgeous park and down what used to be the world's shortest railroad line. They brought the bodies to the cemetery on railroad cars.
Voila, Le Cimetière de Loyasse.
Famous Miracle Worker, "Master Philippe", is buried here. (1849 - 1905) He worked for the Tzar of Russia and all over Europe. People still come and leave notes in the tree, gifts, food. If you touch his tombstone, you can be healed.
The Godfather to all Freemasons, Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, lies buried here. (1730 - 1824) He is famous for creating the rites and laying the groundwork for today's Freemasons.
Various photos:
Inside one of the Mausoleums.
Exterior of previous interior.
Amazing giant pyramid. I didn't catch the persons name who is buried there as the groundskeeper spoke French way too fast, but it was a very important knight who fought for a king...?
Loads of symbols all over the cemetery. Love the stained glass symbol here.
This Mausoleum has been abandoned for 200 years, a plaque told us how we could contact the groundskeeper if we should wish to have it as our own or reuse the material. Cah-reepy!
This is the part that gets me: here is an example of how many family members are buried in the same hole. Oftentimes, mausoleums hold the coffins above ground, in France the coffins are put into a hole, one on top of another.
This family plot has at least 15 or 20 people in the same hole over a 250 year period.
They put them in through these trap doors. Each plot has one just like this. My fertile imagination had me hear them opening with a macabre Rrreeeeee!
This is a true story. I went to someone's funeral (I won't say who). The elderly lady was being interred with her ancestors, as I have described. This cemetery didn't have the trap door with the lovely iron rings, but the lid was lifted off the family tomb and a new hole was dug.
Therefore, there was a pile of dirt next to the grave. We all went, the coffin was lowered, and I lingered quite a while, scoping out the gorgeous old tombstones, etc. I happened to look back and noticed that they were filling in the grave as everyone else had gone.
A small backhoe was scooping up the dirt, when I saw a femur, a human bone, sticking out of the dirt!
Apparently this is normal as all the coffins and bodies who had been put in before had all decomposed into a big heap of chunks of wood, pieces of skeletons, etc. all mashed together.
I shall never forget that. And I never want to be put in a dark hole with the scattered remnants of my ancestors, thank you very much!
I regress, on we go. I walked back down the Fourviere hill.
A beautiful little steep and long stairway.
Winding down through the buildings.
And, poof, back in the old part of town--Vieux Lyon.
A 15th or 16th century building.
Voila! Gros bisous macabre et a demain!
Love, Charley
p.s. Still a walking Bugnes-eating machine!
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