The public is generally unaware that behind the Bartholomew war memorial lies an ossuary intended to collect the mortal remains from the abandoned concessions of various cemeteries: the crypt of the Père Lachaise cemetery.
Since 1996, no municipality in France has granted a perpetual concession. However, the decrees of April 25, 1924, April 18, 1931 and March 12, 1945, which deal with the resumption of perpetual and centenary concessions (procedure established by the law of January 3, 1924), led to the creation of special ossuaries to accommodate the remains of bodies exhumed from these recovered concessions.
Thus, the authorities created a unique ossuary in Paris: that of Père Lachaise. It therefore collects the mortal remains from the resumption of perpetual and centenary concessions abandoned in Parisian cemeteries.
Source : Cimetière du père Lachaise (Amis et passionnés du Père Lachaise (APPL)
