The Birth of the Modern Family Mausoleum

Although the birth of the mausoleum dates to the Tomb of Mausolus in Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey) constructed circa 353 BC, it wasn’t until the early 19th Century that the modern family mausoleum was established as an enduring funerary form. The first family mausoleum was erected in Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. Père-Lachaise was established in 1804 as a result of a burial crisis in Paris. Prior to the establishment of Père-Lachaise most people in Paris were unceremoniously buried in city cemeteries and churchyards, but after centuries of burials the cemeteries became over crowded. Père-Lachaise was laid out as a bucolic environment and looked more like a park than a burial ground. More importantly, Père-Lachaise and other cemeteries that used it as a template became a canvas for monuments and mausoleums.

The first monuments in Père-Lachaise were rather diminutive and even the mausoleums (known as chapelles) were only for one person or a husband and wife and perhaps their children. That all changed in 1810.

The Greffulhe Mausoleum was the first large-scale family mausoleum built in Père-Lachaise. Constructed in 1810, it houses the remains of generations of the Greffulhe family. The mausoleum’s first permanent resident was Jean-Louis Greffulhe (1774-1820) who was a banker and philanthropist. Père-Lachaise architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart designed the mausoleum in the Neo-Gothic (stripped-down Gothic) style. The Greffulhe Mausoleum was originally designed as the centerpiece of Père-Lachaise and held on to that designation for over a decade since the larger Père-Lachaise chapel would not be built until 1823. The Greffulhe Mausoleum became the template for numerous mausoleums in Europe and the United States. The mausoleum still stands over 200 years after its construction and is one of the showpieces in Père-Lachaise Cemetery, a true testament to the enduring legacy of the family mausoleum.

Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page

[Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page] Google+