The Père-Lachaise quiz
Before the Cemetery
The ten questions in this series
Mont-Louis, the Jesuits and Father La Chaise, before 1804. Each question stands on its own, with its story — or can be played as part of the full series.
- Long before it became a cemetery, in the Middle Ages the hill of Père-Lachaise bore a name recalling its owner at the time. What was it?
- In the twelfth century, this same plot of land changed name to reflect the activity then carried out there. What did it become known as?
- In 1430, a wealthy merchant named Regnault de Wandonne bought the estate and had a sumptuous residence built there. What nickname did the land keep from him?
- The name Mont-Louis, given to the estate before it became that of Père La Chaise, stems from a specific seventeenth-century event. What was it?
- This Jesuit was King Louis XIV's confessor for thirty-four years, until his death in 1709. Who is he?
- Did the Mont-Louis estate, where Father de La Chaise lived, personally belong to him?
- In 1762, an event upended the fate of the Jesuit estate. What was it?
- Between 1771 and 1803, under the Baron family, what became of the former Jesuit estate, once nicknamed the little Versailles?
- In 1803, the City of Paris bought back the Mont-Louis estate to turn it into a cemetery. Who was the prefect of the Seine behind this project?
- A month after Père-Lachaise opened, an imperial decree extended across France the very principle that had motivated its creation. What was it?