@katie.caf.travel: When Oscar Wilde died in Paris 1900, he was initially buried in a pauper’s grave - it wasn’t until almost a decade later that funds were raised by his fans to bury him in his final tomb in the much more fashionable Père-Lachaise Cemetery. Fast-forward another 80 years or so, and the tomb entered the cultural zeitgeist for a new reasons - contemporary admirers (mostly women) were kissing the grave with red lipstick to honor and remember the famous poet. The kisses reached peak frenzy in the late 2000s, right before the government and descendants of the famous poet put a stop to the practice by erecting a large plexiglass barrier around the tomb. Nowadays, if you’re caught kissing Oscar Wilde’s gravestone it’s a 9,000 Euro fee as well as possible criminal charges (it’s unclear what the official punishment is for kissing the other graves). Nevertheless, the kissing practice persists, and you can see kissy marks strewn on pieces of paper around the foot of the grave and all over the barrier. #PèreLachaiseCemetery #oscarwilde #historytravel #Paris #History

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Wednesday 20 August 2025 08:23:02 GMT