Dec 29, 2006

Stealing from the dead, II

As you might know now, Le Père Lachaise, the famous cemetery in Paris was robbed in November, as announced in mid-december by the Paris city hall and reported here, here and there (in French). The bust of my beloved Georges Bizet was stolen, among others.

Photograph from Arcadia.org where you can find many more of other famous composers tombs, including Gioacchino Rossini, Francis Poulenc, Camille Saint-Saëns and Daniel-François-Esprit Auber.

Le Père Lachaise is also the place were Luigi Cherubini, Vincenzo Bellini (remains removed to the cathedral of Catania in 1876), François-Adrien Boieldieu, Gustave Charpentier, Etienne Méhul and Maria Callas (ashes originally buried in the cemetery, then stolen and later recovered, they were scattered into the Aegean Sea. The empty urn remains in the Père Lachaise) were put to rest.

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