Among the tourist attractions of Paris are the city’s cemeteries, first and foremost Père Lachaise. But just outside Paris, in the western suburb of Asnières-sur-Seine, sits a lesser-known but fascinating cemetery where humanity’s best friends, our pets, rest forever.
In my opinion, this is the saddest cemetery in the world, and I’ll explain why in a moment. Human beings, whether they were saints or scoundrels, get a grave and a headstone no matter what. So when you walk through the graves of any Paris cemetery, you never really know if the person underneath was loved by their family and friends or not.
Animals, on the other hand, rarely get buried like people do. Their bodies usually end up behind the veterinary clinic at best, or in the trash at worst. To bury an animal at the Asnières cemetery, the owner has to spend real money on a burial plot and a headstone. Which means you can say with 100 percent certainty that every animal buried here was deeply loved by its owner and family.
In this article, I’ll take you on a short and moving tour of some of the most famous graves in this cemetery, and I promise that by the end, you won’t have a dry eye left.
The Asnières Pet Cemetery: Practical Information
How Do You Get to Asnières?
The easiest way to get to this cemetery is to take line 13 toward Les Courtilles. Get off at the Gabriel Péri station. Pay close attention here, since line 13 splits in two, and while one branch goes to Asnières, the other goes to Saint-Denis.
Once you get off at that station, you’ll need to walk about ten minutes toward the Seine until you see the cemetery.
Open Days and Hours
The pet cemetery is open every day except Mondays. The gates open at 10:00 and close at 18:00 between March and October, or at 16:30 between October and March.
Tickets for the Asnières Cemetery
Even though it’s a cemetery, admission here isn’t free. The price isn’t steep though: 3.5 euros for adults and 1.5 euros for children, and the money goes toward maintaining and preserving the cemetery.
A Tour of the Asnières Cemetery
How Did the Asnières Cemetery Come to Be?
Before we get to some of the famous graves in the Asnières cemetery, here’s a bit of its history.
It all started in 1898, when a municipal bylaw was passed in Paris banning the dumping of dead dogs and cats into the Seine and requiring hygienic burial instead. Following the law, attorney Georges Harmois and journalist Marguerite Durand (1864-1936) decided to open a pet cemetery in the northwestern suburbs of Paris. Work began right by the Seine, and the cemetery opened in 1899.
Since then, more than 40,000 animals of every kind have been buried here, including cats, dogs, fish, songbirds, and even racehorses and monkeys. The cemetery is still active today, and there’s a real chance you might come across a pet funeral during your visit. If that happens, you’ll be asked to respect the ceremony and keep your distance from the area.
Barry’s Grave: The World’s Most Famous Saint Bernard
The statue that greets visitors at the entrance was made in memory of Barry (1800-1814), the famous dog from the Saint Bernard monastery (which gave this dog breed its name).
Barry always traveled with a small barrel of warming liquor, and he saved 40 people stranded in the mountain snow. According to legend, Barry was killed by the 41st person he tried to rescue. His body was preserved and is on display at a museum in Bern, Switzerland, but this moving statue, which shows Barry rescuing a young girl, reminds us why dogs are man’s best friend.
Rin Tin Tin
The cemetery is also home to a few “war heroes.” If you look closely, you’ll find a sign marking the exploits of Moustache, a dog who fought in nearly all of Napoleon’s wars until he was killed in Spain in 1811. Dogs who had stage careers are represented here too. One example is “The Prince of Wales,” whose headstone notes that he appeared on stage 406 times.
Without a doubt, the most famous dog buried in the Asnières cemetery is Rin Tin Tin (1918-1932). As a puppy, this dog was rescued by an American soldier on the killing fields of World War I. Shortly after, he became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, appearing in dozens of films. He became such a huge star, in fact, that the Academy Awards had to change their rules to state that only humans could win, after Rin Tin Tin received the majority of votes in 1929.
Because Rin Tin Tin was a German Shepherd, the breed became the most popular in the United States and held the top spot for decades. After the original Rin Tin Tin died, other German Shepherds took his place, but the original Rin Tin Tin is buried at Asnières.
Graves of Unknown Animals
Alongside the “celebrities,” tens of thousands of anonymous pets are buried here, including dogs, cats, pet birds, fish, horses, and even one monkey. Some have an elaborate headstone, while others have a simple marker. If you look closely, you’ll find the grave of Lulu, for example, built by a mother whose son was saved from drowning in the river by this dog in 1895.
Cats have their own section, called “the cat house” (Le maison des chats). Among others, you’ll find Kroumir buried here, the cat of politician Henri Rochefort (1831-1913), who, according to legend, died of grief four days after his owner.
And finally, the most anonymous grave of all belongs to a dog who died right at the cemetery gates in 1958. Since he was the 40,000th animal to be buried there, the management decided to build him a special headstone.
So if you love animals and happen to find yourself in the area, don’t miss this special place, and pay your respects to our best friends.
Want to Visit More Paris Cemeteries?
If this tour has “whetted your appetite” and you’d like to visit more cemeteries in Paris, feel free to read the article Paris cemeteries: if only the tombstones could talk
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