The mausoleum of Countess Demidoff, a white marble colonnade more than ten metres high, dominates Division 4. A persistent legend attributes an unusual will to her. What did it promise?
The answer
According to legend, Countess Demidoff is said to have promised her fortune — around two million roubles — to whoever agreed to watch over her body for 365 days and 366 nights. No evidence of this exists, but in the nineteenth century the rumour drew letters of application from several countries.
This question belongs to the “Funerary Art” series of the Père-Lachaise quiz: ten questions, a story behind every right answer.