 |  | A
bit of history: Created from three farms in 1824, the Montparnasse cemetery was
originally known as Le Cimetiere du Sud. Cemeteries had been banned from Paris
since the shutting down of the Cimetiere des Innocents in 1786 on the fringe of
Les Halles food market on the grounds that it presented a health hazard. Several
new cemeteries outside of the precincts of the capital replaced all the Parisian
ones in the early 19th century, Cimetière de Montmartre in the north, Le
Cimetiere Pere Lachaise in the east and Cimetière du Montparnasse in the
south. At the heart of the city, and today, sitting in the shadow of the Eiffel
Tower , is Cimetière de Passy . |  |  |