The Permanent Flowers at The Pere Lachaise Cemetary

Something unexpected happened to me at the HUGE cemetery in Paris.
I discovered the glazed ceramic flower.

The Pere Lachaise Cemetery is much larger than I had expected. In the past ten years of traveling to Paris this visit seemed to always fall off my to-do list. But last year I went with a photographer to Paris so the incentive to see the cemetery for myself was finally top of the list. My intention was to spend the morning with Nancy and then head off to separate destinations. In the end, it was an all day journey. Trust me when I say, get the map to the cemetery when you arrive.

There are hundreds of alleys and little streets to walk down.

Many of the very old family mausoleums are starting to crumble. There is so much beauty in the decay. Even the broken glass or rusting doors were beautiful in their own right.

But these permanent flower markers are what caught my eye all day. A ceramic flower would last years instead of the days most cut flowers last.

The ceramic wreaths were amazing. Had I not seen these in the context of the cemetery I might have bought one thinking how nice they would look on my front door at home!

Some of the flowers were newer than others. I wonder if family members wash them when they visit.

I was especially pleased to photograph the flowers that had all sorts of debris in their opening.

Some of the ceramic flowers were broken and real vines were starting to intertwine through the cracks.

This one looks so real!

Tomorrow on my art blog I will have a post showing you a piece of art I made with some of these images. Please have a peak there too!