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Origin and history

The chapel of the Père-Lachaise, also known as the Eastern Chapel, is a Catholic religious building located in the eponymous cemetery of the 20th arrondissement of Paris. Initially planned as a monumental pyramid by Brongniart for Christian cults, this project was abandoned in favour of a more modest chapel. It was built thanks to a legacy of 40,000 francs from Marie Naudin, widow of Dr Bosquillon, and financed by the city of Paris. The architect Étienne-Hippolyte Godde, also designer of the main door of the cemetery, drew up plans between 1818 and 1820. It was completed in 1823 and was consecrated in 1834 and attached to the parish of Notre-Dame-du-Perpétuel-Secours.

Located on the site of the former Jesuit retirement home, the chapel dominates the cemetery from the top of Mont-Louis, aligned with the main axis leading to the entrance door. Its sober architecture, in neoclassical style, evokes a "large tomb" according to Amédée de Césena (1864). It is 19.40 m long for 12 m high, with a single opening: its door. Inside, a white marble altar, candelabras and a pieta adorn space, while ex-votos honour more than a thousand deceased, including figures such as Admiral Parseval-Deschênes or General Tascher de la Pagerie.

Ranked a historical monument in 1983, the chapel only opens in exceptional ways, during the Toussaint and the commemoration of the dead faithful. In 2025, the Cardinal's Building Association allocated 60,000 euros for its interior renovation, in the framework of works estimated at 640,000 euros. It is adjacent to the monument erected in 1887 for Adolphe Thiers, highlighting its anchor in the funeral and memorial history of Paris.

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