Cimetière de Picpus

Redolent with revolutionary associations, French and American, this cemetery in a working convent is the resting place for the thousands of victims of the Revolution's aftermath, guillotined at place du Trône (now place de la Nation) between 14 June and 27 July 1794. At the end of a walled garden is a graveyard of aristocratic French families. In one corner is the tomb of General La Fayette, who fought in the American War of Independence and was married to the aristocratic Marie Adrienne Françoise de Noailles. Clearly marked are the sites of two communal graves, and you can see the doorway where the carts arrived. It was thanks to a maid who had seen the carts that the site was rediscovered, including the cemetery and adjoining convent, founded by descendants of the Noailles family. In the chapel, two tablets list the names and occupations of the executed: 'domestic servant' and 'farmer' figure alongside 'lawyer' and 'prince and priest'.