Saint-Pierre Cemetery à Marseille 1er dans les Bouches-du-Rhône

Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Saint-Pierre cemetery in Marseille, inaugurated in 1863, was born of a health and urban necessity. As early as the 18th century, intramural burials, considered unhealthy, were progressively prohibited by royal ordinances (such as that of 1776). Marseilles, in accordance with these directives, acquired land in 1819-1820 to create the Saint Charles cemetery, quickly saturated by urbanization and the arrival of the railway. The lack of this space led to the purchase of bastid gardens in 1855 to establish Saint-Pierre, blessed in 1855 and officially opened in 1863 after transfer of remains from Saint-Charles.

Despite the local opposition fearing health risks, an imperial decree of 1855 declared the public utility project. The cemetery, designed by architect Sixte Rey, became the burial place of the Marseille elite, with monumental tombs reflecting 19th century artistic eclecticism. Among his most notable burials are those of Edmond Rostand, Antoine Clot (Clot Bey), and the painter Adolphe Monticelli. The site, organized in hemicycles and aisles, mixes oriental and classical influences, as evidenced by the tomb of Camille Olive (1872), the only orientalist achievement of architect Pascal Coste.

The cemetery also houses major sculptural works, such as the harp man and a weeping woman by André-Joseph Allar, or the monument to the deaths of the First World War. Pined and thematic squares (artists, industrialists, resistors) structure the space, where figures such as actor Rellys, airman Albert Littolff, or singer Gaby Deslys rest. Ranked among the largest cemeteries in France after Pantin and Thiais, Saint-Pierre illustrates the evolution of funeral practices and the social history of Marseille, from industrial revolutions to world wars.

Among the protected elements, Camille Olive's tomb, listed as a historical monument in 2014, is distinguished by its Moorish style and Persian decorations, recalling Coste's work in the East. Other burials, such as that of Clot Bey (a doctor in Egypt) or that of Alphonse Esquiros (a Republican writer), highlight Marseilles' ties with the Mediterranean world and 19th century intellectual movements. The cemetery, still in operation, remains a place of memory and an open-air museum, reflecting the cultural and historical diversity of the Phocéan city.

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