Where are history’s most famous people buried?

European graveyards are full of really cool historical figures if you’re into being a "Tombstone Tourist". They’re also an entertaining alternative to visiting another museum or church. Depending on who you’re interested in, a great place to start your search is or get general info on someone deceased (or even locating a dead family member lost in one of the wars) see www.findagrave.com.

Westminster Abbey –about 3,300 buried and yes…you too can be buried here (ashes only). Famous people buried here include seventeen British monarchs including King Henry V and all the Tudors except for Henry VIII, Sir Isaac Newton, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, George Frederic Handel, Elizabeth I, Laurence Olivier, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy

Cimitiere Pere-Lachaise – Yes, Jim Morrison of the Doors is buried here. So too, is Honoré de Balzac, Guillaume Apollinaire, Frédéric Chopin, Colette, Jean-François Champollion, Jean de La Fontaine, Molière, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Alfred de Musset, Edith Piaf, Camille Pissarro and Oscar Wilde

Cimitiere Montparnasse– famous people buried there includes Charles Baudelaire, Guy de Maupassant, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Charles Garnier

Cimitere Montmartre – famous people buried there includes Stendhal, Émile Zola, Gustave Moreau, Berlioz, Sacha Guitry and even Dalida, whose grave is the most visited and has the most flowers.

Pantheon in Paris -Located on the left bank area in the Latin Quarter, houses the Who’s Who in French history including 77 great French notables including Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Jaures, Jean Moulin, Louis Braille

St. Denis Cathedral just north of Paris – houses the bodies of most of the kings and queens of France including Marie Antoinette, Catherine de Medici, Henry II, Charles V, Louis XII, Louis XVI, and Philip IV

The Vienna Central Cemetery – famous people buried there includes Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Arnold Schonberg

Other Noteworthy Graves

• Christopher Columbus- tomb lies within the Cathedral in Seville, Spain.
• Vasco de Gama-tomb lies within the Monastery of the Geronimos in Lisbon, Portugal.
• El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar), Spain’s very own William Wallace, lies in a floor tomb at the Cathedral in his birthtown of Burgos, Spain.
• Napolean-In 1861, after placing his remains inside a rather lavish tomb, was laid to rest at the Eglise du Dome, part of the Hotel des Invalides in Paris, France.
• Spain’s Catholic Monarchs Isabel and Fernando are buried inside the Capilla Real located adjacent to the Cathedral in Granada.
• Ataturk, the legendary leader and “father of modern Turkey” is buried at the Anit Kabir (Mausoleum), 2 km west of Kizilay in Ankara, Turkey.
• Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, and Catherine de Medici are all buried inside the St. Denis Cathedral just north of Paris.
• US General George Patton is buried at the American Cementery in Hamm, Luxembourg.