Tombe de Héloïse & Abelard

"The Pere Lachaise cemetary is absolutely worth to explore, and here is just a couple of suggestions the lovers Abelard and Heloise of 12th century Paris are buried at Pere Lachaise , and even to this day, lovers or lovelorn singles leave letters at their grave in tribute to the couple or in hope of finding true love. The story: Abelard lived in a house just next to what is now the corner of Rue des Ursins and Rue des Chantres on Ile de la Cite. He was a cleric and a master of theology at the Cathedral of Notre Dame. He was also a poet and so renowned as a philosopher, that he was surrounded by thousands of students from all over Europe, who were drawn to him by the fame of his teaching. He was 37 years old, when in 1115 his path crossed with Héloïse d'Argenteuil She was 17 year old, and already famous as the most well-educated and intelligent woman in Paris, when her uncle and caretaker, asked Abelard to take her in as her teacher. She moved into Abelards house - and the two, the famous teacher and the brilliant student, fell almost immediately in love It was a passionate - and carnal - love and eventually Héloïse became pregnant As Abelard was a clergy and had to be celibate, Héloïse's pregnancy would put him at risk. To protect him she left Paris to take refuge with Abelard's sister in Brittany, where she gave birth to their son. Abelard proposed to marry, but Héloïse resisted. She thought of marriage as a tomb and, as she feared a marriage would endanger his ability to study and teach, she suggested that she became his misstress. Eventually the two got secretly married and saw each other regularly, until the uncle found them out - and sent men out to have Abelard castrated! After this gruesome event, Abelard and Héloïse shut themselves up in seperate convents for the rest of their lives, while they led an intense exchange via some, now famous, love letters in which they both expressed the hope of eventually being buried together and in this way being united in death When Abelard died in 1142, his remains were soon after carried off secretly, and given over to the loving care of Héloïse until her death in 1163. She chose to be buried next to him in Brittany. In 1817 their bones were moved to the crypt in the Pere Lachaise cemetery and in romantic Paris, their grave at Pere Lachaise made this quite new cemetary, way outside Paris, a popular place to be buried You find the tomb near Chemin Chenier Division 8 If not looking exactly like 12th century, Rue des Ursins and Rue des Chantres are some of the few streets on Ile de la Cite, which have, to this date, kept a sort of medieval romantic character - and as they are ignored by the tourist crowds, they have an air of quietness and mystery "