Père Lachaise cemetery : its tombs bear the names of major figures from the worlds of literature, theatre and music. When the cemetery opened on 21 May 1804, however, Parisians were reticent, and eleven years later, in 1815, there were fewer than 2,000 tombs in the 17-hectare enclosure of the time. The situation was such that those in charge of the cemetery even considered launching a major advertising campaign