Where is Jean de La Fontaine’s grave?
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Jean de La Fontaine’s grave is located in Paris, in the famous Père-Lachaise Cemetery, one of the most iconic burial sites in the capital. Although the fabulist died in 1695, it was not until 1817, more than 120 years after his death, that his remains were transferred to Père-Lachaise, where he now rests alongside another monument of French literature: Molière.
Jean de La Fontaine, a major author of the 17th century, is best known for his Fables, poetic tales featuring animals to illustrate moral lessons. His work is inseparable from French culture and his influence has endured for more than three centuries. The posterity that surrounds La Fontaine fully justifies the place of honor he has been given at Père-Lachaise.
When he died in 1695, Jean de La Fontaine was buried in the Saints-Innocents cemetery, a former Parisian burial ground located in the Les Halles district. However, over the centuries, and particularly following the urban transformations of Paris under the Ancien Régime and the Empire, several intramural cemeteries were closed or relocated. It was in this context that the Père-Lachaise Cemetery was created in 1804, located on the heights of eastern Paris, in the 20th arrondissement.
This new cemetery, initially little frequented, owes its growing reputation to an original strategy developed by its promoters: transferring the remains of famous figures there in order to attract bourgeois families who wished to be buried there in turn. In 1817, to this end, the Parisian authorities ordered the symbolic transfer of the remains of Jean de La Fontaine and Molière, two major figures in classical French literature.
These transfers had a strong cultural and political impact: they paid tribute to French literary genius while enhancing the prestige of Père-Lachaise. Since then, Jean de La Fontaine’s tomb has become a place of remembrance, visited by generations of readers, students, and poetry lovers.
La Fontaine’s funerary monument is simple but significant. It is located right next to Molière’s, highlighting their supposed friendship and literary affinity. Although historians are not entirely certain that the bodies buried there are those of the two authors, the symbolic nature of this burial site remains essential. It celebrates Jean de La Fontaine’s major contribution to French literature and culture.
Even today, visitors to Père-Lachaise Cemetery can pay their respects at Jean de La Fontaine’s grave, located in section 25 of the cemetery. It is one of the most popular and most photographed graves, along with those of other celebrities such as Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Édith Piaf, and Jim Morrison. This concentration of famous names makes Père-Lachaise much more than a cemetery: it is a veritable open-air pantheon.
Jean de La Fontaine’s grave is located at Père-Lachaise and is a major site of French literary memory. This place embodies both the national tribute paid to a universal poet and the ongoing transmission of his legacy through the ages. Visiting his tomb is a way of honoring someone who, with his subtle and playful pen, taught morality through poetry to young and old alike.
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Where is Jean de La Fontaine's grave?
Answer
Jean de La Fontaine's grave is located in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where he has been buried since 1817 alongside his friend, the playwright Molière.