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nA quirky (NPR) and enchanting (Guardian) summer read: travel to Paris for a behind-the-scenes look at the worlds most famous cemetery, Père-Lachaise, and unlock its many mysteries with the cemeterys head curator as your guide. Not only is this a book that answers, fact for fact, everything you ever wanted to know about Père-Lachaise but were afraid to ask, it is also a portrait of a person who truly loves his work.--The New York Times For Benoît Gallot, Père Lachaise is best explored without a guide: Youre guaranteed to lose your way. Youll feel as though youve stepped out of time, out of Paris, and into another place entirely. In his debut memoir, Gallot, head curator of Père Lachaise and son of a grave stonemason, pulls back the curtains on his otherworldly workplace--a cemetery crammed with tourists in the high season and mourners year round, but also a natural paradise, where foxes roam, birds flit between trees, and wildflowers and moss encroach onto tombstones. In elegant, engrossing chapters, Gallot reveals the secret world of Père Lachaise--its Napoleonic origins, its unusual graves and monuments--alongside touching stories from his working life in the cemetery. Born into a family of undertakers, Gallot was named curator of Père-Lachaise in his early-thirties, inheriting the complex job of managing over 100 acres of green space, overseeing 70,000 graves, and arranging burials and cremations, all while contending with millions of tourists--plus film crews, birdwatchers, ghost hunters, and the occasional nude performance artist. Gallot, who also lives on the cemetery grounds with his wife and young children, demystifies his unusual and often misunderstood profession, which in reality requires much more contact with living people than dead ones. In doing so, he provides insight into the history of graveyards and our evolving relationship with death. Gallot also shares vivid descriptions of flora and fauna, which have reemerged in recent years thanks to a huge rewilding effort. Initially unsure about the idea, he embraced it as the cemetery alleys blossomed and birdsong proliferated. Then in April 2020, with the city in lockdown, Gallot took an early-morning stroll and crossed paths with a fox--in the middle of Paris! He snapped a picture and posted it, unwittingly setting off a media frenzy. Gallots daily photographs of Père-Lachaises flourishing animal and plant life have attracted followers from around the world, helping to change t
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Vânzător: Libris.ro
Brand: Benot Gallot
