Main Cemetery of Orléans

The Main Cemetery of Orléans (Grand cimetière d'Orléans) is the most important cemetery in Orléans and in the department of Loiret. Now measuring 15 hectares, it lies beside the railway line and its entrance is on boulevard Lamartine It includes a military square, an ossuary and a remembrance garden.

It opened in 1896 after the Saint-Jean and Saint-Vincent cemeteries were destroyed. Some tombs from those two previous cemeteries were moved there, such as that of the actor Abraham-Joseph Bénard. It is fish-shaped and lies on flat and sandy land. Other than the cross path and the main path, it has no trees.

Of the early graves, all that remains are a few funerary chapels of notable people near the entrance and a few tombs with medallions (including those of lieutenant-colonel Louis Beaugé and the aviator Serge Boineaud) in section A. The rest of the cemetery is covered in standardised modern tombs without distinctive or religious signs.