The Montparnasse cemetery, formerly known as the Cimetière du Sud, was opened in 1824. Today it is one of Paris's main cemeteries, alongside Père-Lachaise and Montmartre. Designed to support the city's expansion southwards, beyond the old Paris city walls, it was built on the land of three former farms acquired in the early 19th century. One of the vestiges of this era is the old mill, which was converted into a caretaker's cottage when the site was opened.

The cemetery covers an area of 19 hectares and contains around 35,000 plots. It is estimated that over 300,000 people have been buried there since it was founded, including multiple burials and transfers to the ossuary.

Many illustrious figures are buried here, from all fields of creativity: poetry, novels, painting, photography, sculpture, philosophy, theatre, cinema, song, satirical cartoons, etc. There are also graves of leading figures from the scientific, economic, religious and political worlds, making the cemetery a true mirror of France's intellectual and cultural history.

As in other Parisian cemeteries, many Communards were buried anonymously at the time of the Bloody Week, some being thrown into a mass grave over which a commemorative monument has been erected. The cemetery also contains the graves of around fifteen identified members of the Commune, as well as other figures who should be remembered in this context. We are going to explore these places of remembrance linked to the Paris Commune.