Photographer and author Carolyn Campbell and Caltech Professor Jed Buchwald will be discussing Campbell’s book, “City of Immortals: Pére-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris” and the lives and work of some of the great scientific minds of the 18th and early 19th centuries buried there, on Caltech Live Thursday, November 18.
The online conversation begins at 5 p.m.
Campbell’s book, published in 2019, celebrates the novelty and eccentricity of the famous resting place. The Père-Lachaise Cemetery, founded in 1804, takes its name from King Louis XIV’s Jesuit confessor, Rev. François d’Aix de La Chaise.
One of four cemeteries planned through a Napoleonic decree, the Pére-Lachaise plan for a garden-style memorial park was seen as revolutionary for its time. Designer Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart faced a vast and unprecedented architectural and landscaping challenge: to create the first proper burial area for individual gravesites outside of a churchyard.
Situated in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, it extends 107 acres and contains 70,000 burial plots. In addition, it is a magnificent open-air museum of funerary sculpture and architecture spanning more than two centuries of art history.
Campbell is a Washington, D.C. native and has lived in Paris. She currently resides in Los Angeles. Her fascination with Père-Lachaise Cemetery was kindled on a first visit to Paris in the early 1980s. Her research and photo documentation of the world-famous cemetery culminated in “City of Immortals,” her debut book, published by Goff Books. It was named No. 2 on the Los Angeles Times Bestseller List and No. 1 on Amazon’s Hot New Releases.
In the conversation, Campbell engages Buchwald in a spirited discussion as he takes on the persona of three scientists: astronomer Jérôme Lalande; mathematician, physicist, and historian Joseph Fourier; and decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphics Jean-François Champollion.
Together, Campbell and Buchwald discuss the lives of these luminaries and uncover the controversies surrounding their provocative debates about science, politics, and religion; Napoleon’s pivotal role in their cultural and intellectual adventures; and the significance of their discoveries that unfolded against the background of the French Revolution and the Restoration.
The online event is free and open to the public.
To make a reservation, visit https://events.caltech.edu/
For more information, call (626) 395-4652.
