The Père Lachaise cemetery is an open-air museum filled with symbolism and some of the most unexpected memorials in Paris. While visitors often flock to see the graves of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, or Edith Piaf, some of the lesser-known tombs are even more intriguing.

Here are some of the strangest, most creative, or downright eerie graves hidden among the winding paths of this famous cemetery.

1. The Man Who Refused to Lie Down

Most tombs are just slabs of stone. Not Georges Rodenbach’s. The Belgian writer, known for his novel Bruges-la-Morte, wanted something more dramatic. His grave features a life-sized bronze sculpture of him emerging from the tomb, clutching a bouquet of roses. It’s as if he’s rising from the dead, refusing to be forgotten.

A Symbolist writer obsessed with themes of memory and decay, Rodenbach ensured his own grave became a haunting work of art.

2. The Aviator’s Monument

Fernand Arbelot wanted one thing in death: to keep looking at his wife’s face. His tomb in Père Lachaise is impossible to miss. A bronze statue of a man lies flat, holding a mask in his hands. The mask, legend says, is a cast of his wife’s face, so he could gaze at her for eternity. Over time, the sculpture has aged, its details softened by weather, but the image of a man clinging to love beyond the grave remains unforgettable.

3. The Kiss of Death

The grave of Victor Noir, a journalist shot in 1870, has become an unexpected fertility symbol. His tomb features a life-sized bronze sculpture of his body lying flat, as if he had just fallen. But it’s not the tragedy that draws visitors—it’s the noticeable bulge in his trousers. Legend has it that rubbing this particular area brings fertility and luck in love. The result? A very shiny, well-worn spot on an otherwise green-patinated statue.

4. The Painter Who Took His Masterpiece to the Grave

Théodore Géricault not only left behind a legacy, he took it with him. His tomb in Père Lachaise features a sculpture of the artist reclining on top, palette in hand, as if he’s still at work. Below, a relief of The Raft of the Medusa, his most famous painting, stares back at visitors. Géricault had poured years of research into the real-life shipwreck tragedy, even studying cadavers to capture its raw desperation.

5. The Man Who Took a Violin to the Grave

Arman, a French-American artist known for slicing, smashing, and assembling everyday objects into art, left one final masterpiece in Père Lachaise. Arman spent his career deconstructing objects to give them new meaning. His tomb features a broken bronze violin, a nod to his famous “destruction” pieces, where he cut instruments into fragments and reassembled them. The violin lies shattered in front of his grave, as if mid-explosion, frozen in time.