Death, he rubs shoulders with it every day. And yet Benoît Gallot, curator of the Père-Lachaise cemetery, savors life. He expresses it in particular through his instagram account “Life in the cemetery” where he presents his photos of life in the cemetery to his almost 44,000 subscribers. A popular craze that prompted him to write The Secret Life of a Cemetery* where he reveals all the facets of his profession as well as the big and small stories of the most famous of cemeteries. For 20 minutesBenoît Gallot guides us in this very particular universe but much more alive than it seems.
In your book, you write “To manage a cemetery is to accompany the living”. Isn’t it paradoxical?
What happens to the foxes of Père-Lachaise? with the fox. It was really unexpected. It is this contrast between this very painful, very difficult moment – we were very impacted by the Covid-19 with all the deaths necessarily –, and this meeting in the heart of Paris. Haise is no longer seen by the elites as the place where it absolutely must be after his death. It was especially the 19th and early 20th century when you had to be there, it was a sign of social success. it is to help them, to accompany them so that they can serenely go through this essential stage of mourning. And that’s what I find exciting in my job. And then the living are also people who are not in a situation of mourning but who have a grave and who ask themselves questions. I have a job with a lot of relationships with living people.
How do you manage to manage the emotional burden of bereaved families?
I was a little afraid of that because at Père-Lachaise, I receive all the families who buy land. So I had prepared myself for the idea of seeing families crying in my office. But in the end, during these interviews, I don’t face sad people because people are so happy to have a place at Père-Lachaise that there is a rather relaxed atmosphere that sets in. After yes, there are difficult interviews. When I face parents who bury their child, I cannot say that there is no emotional charge. You have to be able to stay professional. Not being too cold, not crying with the family either, that’s where you learn to take it. There are interviews that mark and that we will hang around for a few days, but when you work in the funeral industry, you learn to manage that. Going to see foxes or birds in the cemetery with my camera is also a way to decompress.
And besides, how to succeed in being buried at Père-Lachaise?
Each year, we welcome 3,000 new deceased. There is already cremation which allows many Parisians or families to rest at Père-Lachaise because we have a columbarium with 26,000 spaces and a garden for dispersion so we don’t really have any space problems. There are all those who already have a family grave and who will be buried in their vault and there remain those who are opposed to cremation and who have no graves. Relatives will then ask for the purchase of a funeral concession but there they come up against the lack of places that has existed for decades. However, over the past three years, an average of 100 lots have been put up for sale. There is no waiting list, no CV selection, it is really luck that decides. When I put a piece of land up for sale, it’s the first one to show up who gets it. Another essential condition is that the deceased be domiciled in Paris.
More and more celebrities are abandoning Père-Lachaise… What about?
Père Lachaise is no more the place to be. It’s been 30-40 years since this is no longer the case. VIPs are often in Montmartre or Montparnasse, especially since the 1980s, with Serge Gainsbourg, Mireille Darc, Jacques Chirac, Christophe, etc. Père-Lachaise is no longer seen by the elite as the place where you absolutely have to be after your death. It was especially the 19th and early 20th century when you had to be there, it was a sign of social success.
And you also missed Johnny Hallyday…
We imagined it at Père-Lachaise. If there was a grave capable of dethroning that of Jim Morisson, in terms of visitors, it would have been his. If Johnny Hallyday had been buried at Père-Lachaise, there would have been a considerable crowd in front of his grave all day. At the same time, it saves me a lot of worries because there would have been commemorations, songs, amulets, nocturnal intrusions, etc. It could have become a new place of worship with all the excesses, like drugs, that entails. It’s very good that he is in Saint-Barthélemy because Jim Morrison was a real ordeal for my predecessors for 30 years.
How did you experience the confinement from your cemetery?
From confinement, I especially keep the meeting with the fox. It was really unexpected. It is this contrast between this very painful, very difficult moment – we were very impacted by the Covid-19 with all the deaths necessarily -, and this meeting in the middle of Paris.
What happens to the foxes of Père-Lachaise?
They have been there for three years and from photographing them, I think there are two couples. The fox is an elastic species that will adapt its population to the surface area and food available. A site like Père-Lachaise can shelter two couples, according to specialists, knowing that the foxes leave the cemetery in the fall and at the beginning of winter to colonize other parks, or go to the suburbs of Paris in the woods. In any case, at Père-Lachaise, they seem to be happy.
The cubs are also the stars of your Instagram account. What does this bring you?
What I wanted by creating this Instagram account was to show another facet of cemeteries, that there was not only death, there was a lot of life, of wild animals. I have received a lot of messages from families of the deceased who tell me that it comforts them to see animals in the middle of the graves, that it soothes them. I am very touched by these messages. And on a personal level, I take great pleasure in taking photos and observing nature, it’s really a moment of calm. I have the privilege of being able to go to Père-Lachaise in the evening at closing time when there is no one left. And in the heart of Paris, I think I’m in the countryside. I see incredible animals that I have never seen in the countryside where I grew up. I also enjoy writing under posts. I discovered that people were sensitive to both text and photography. Personally, it’s very fulfilling.
*The Secret Life of a CemeteryBenoît Gallot, Les Arènes editions