My Excellent Adventure with Mary & Phil Part II: St. Genevieve-des-Bois Cemetery

St. Genevieve-des-Bois Cemetery is a Russian Orthodox cemetery started in 1926 by a group of Russian immigrants who settled in  Chateau de la Cossonnerie. The property  was bought in 1927 by English heiress Dorothy Paget who also set up a retirement home for Russian immigrants.The cemetery is the resting place for more than 10,000 Russian expats including Nobel Prize winner Ivan Bunin, Princess Irina of Russia, authors Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius, painter Kontantin Somov, and philosopher Sergei Bulgakov. Its most famous citizen is Rudolf Nureyev, one of the greatest dancers who ever lived and the main reason for our visit.

Continuing our adventure, we took another RER train to St. Genevieve-des-Bois, a sleepy suburb of Paris. Since Mary and Phil are cemetery enthusiasts, this was the big event that they had been waiting for for months. A bus dropped us off in in what looked like the middle of nowhere and about a quarter of a mile up a quiet road we spotted the cemetery. It was a cool, overcast day with sun fighting to get through and the light was perfect for photos. The cemetery was serene and quiet, smelling of  moss. Many of the graves had Patriarchal crosses that have two cross bars going across horizontally giving the cemetery a symmetry. What was most special was the profuse amount of spring flowers both growing in front of the graves and placed on top. After many fits and starts in Paris, spring was suddenly alive and thriving in St. Genevieve-des-Bois. Of course, Mary and Phil were in seventh heaven, acting like kids in a playground and practically skipping through the aisles of the cemetery.

After a few minutes of exploring, we had no idea where Nureyev's grave was located, so Mary bought a cemetery map and we hightailed it. The grave was even more magnificent in person than the photos I saw before and the rich color of the gold, red and bright blue mosaic tiles just popped. What was most incredible was that it looked just like a tapestry and the way it was draped and the way the folds fell,  you would swear it was made of cloth. Notice the beautiful gold fringe adorning the bottom. Mary and Phil were so ecstatic about finally hitting the cemetery jackpot, they decided it was the perfect photo op. Notice how serious and somber they are in the photo below. The mosaic was designed and built by set designer Ezio Frigerio and was based on traditional Oriental kilim rugs. Rudolf Nureyev died of AIDS at the age of 55 in 1993.
Mary & Phil: such sad sacks

We strolled around the rest of the cemetery for about another 45 minutes and discovered some unique graves including one with a head stone decorated with colored porcelain flowers, another stunner with a green sculpted face bordered with a ring of gold leaves, and a quirky one crowded with plastic flowers and kitschy objets like a glass cat filled with colored sand and teddy bears with Santa hats.

We left St. Genevieve-des-Bois Cemetery feeling very happy and more than satisfied and we highly recommend visiting. I will be leading tours of St. Genevieve-des-Bois Cemetery and of the Cathedral of the Resurrection and would love to take you. 

 St. Genevieve-des-Bois Cemetery
rue Leo Lagrange
St. Genevieve-des-Bois

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Comments

[Stef Leinwohl]

Bojour:

Ever since you announced this trek I have dreamed of going on it, but alas my wife is ill, so that could not be. Not only is the cementery of great interest to me, but having someone of Phil Nuxhall's stature along would have been so valuable! I am sure his, and Mary's insight was very insightful. (I hope you took lots of notes to use in your future tour.)

I am from Cincinnati and have visited Spring Grove cemetery there many times. Phil is the historic guide there. Both my parents are interred in the University of Cincinnati Body Donation site.

You have improved in your photographic skills quite a bit since you began your blog and it really shows in these photos.

[Stef Leinwohl]

Bojour 2x:

Thanks a million for allowing me to click on Nureyev's tomb mosaic and go to the actual picture and then, by clicking on that image get the full sized version enabling me to examine it in great detail. Nowhere on the internet could I find a decent image, much less in high resolution. Yours allows me to experience the mosaic as though I was actually there. I bet Mary and Phil went crazy when you guys finally found it! It is so absolutely unique, and looks like a real carpet! (Nothing like that back home in Spring Grove cemetery!)

[MadAboutParis]

Richard, you are too too kind, but we WERE like kids in a candy store weren't we?
So nice to read the comment from our fellow Cincinnatian Stef. When your wife improves you must call Richard for one of his tours. Stef, are you living in Paris full-time now?
M

[Yvonne Cooper]

OMG I've never seen a more ornate tombstone. That word doesn't do the artwork justice. Thanks so much for sharing your most excellent adventure with me and the internet world.

[La Verne Preston]

love your site , inspiring photographs. I remember visiting St Genevieve in the fifties on an exchange visit to france.Viry CHATILLON. It brought back so many happy memories.It bowled me over . Am I right in saying that the inside of the church is very ornate or is my memory playing tricks. Afterall it's nearly fifty years ago.

[Jan O'Highway]

Great pics, thanks so much,

Jan