Ten graves at Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, home to the tombs of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf and other famous names. Photograph: Dmitry Kostyukov/The New York Times
Rest with Wilde: Paris opens a lottery with a difference
The saying “save me from my disciples” is attributed to Dublin-born writer Oscar Wilde, who was buried in Paris following his death in 1900.
That sentiment may be about to become a little more difficult to achieve with Paris city council this week offering citizens the chance to enter a lottery to secure burial plots near the likes of Wilde, singers Jim Morrison and Édith Piaf, playwright Samuel Beckett and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in the city’s Père-Lachaise, Montmartre and Montparnasse cemeteries.
Jim Morrison's grave. Photograph: Getty
Oscar Wilde’s tomb at Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris had long been daubed with graffiti by adoring fans and a cult grew up around leaving lipstick kisses on the monument.
The local authority is aiming to use the lottery to restore degraded monuments within the cemeteries and the offering is expected to appeal to locals as the prospects of securing a plot within the city li
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