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The American lead singer of The Doors rock band spent the last few months of his life in Paris and died here in 1971. Fans still hold vigils at his grave, which is covered with scrawled messages from all over the world.

Jim Morrison’s grave

The Dublin-born author and wit died in 1900, after speaking his alleged last words in his Paris hotel room: “Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.” His tomb is unmissable, with a huge monument by Jacob Epstein.

The Polish composer was born in 1810 but died in Paris at the age of 39. The statue on his tomb represents “the genius of music sunk in grief”.

The “little sparrow” was born in poverty in the Belleville district of Paris in 1915, less than 1,500 m (5,000 ft) from where she was buried in 1963 in a simple black tomb (see Edith Piaf).

The ultimate chronicler of Paris, the writer was born in the city in 1871. He is buried in the family tomb (see A la Recherche du Temps Perdu).

The Irish-born Nobel prize-winning writer settled in Paris in 1937, having previously studied here. He died in 1989 and his gravestone is a simple slab, reflecting the writer’s enigmatic nature (see Samuel Beckett).

Joined together in death as in life, even though they never lived together, their joint grave is a remarkably simple affair. Both of these philosophers were born, lived and died in Paris (see Top 10 Foreign Writers who Lived in Paris).

The great French novelist and short-story writer died in Paris in 1893, and his grave with its luxuriant growth of shrubs stands out because of the open book carving (see Bel-Ami).

The poet who shocked the world with his frank collection of poems Les Fleurs du Mal was born in Paris in 1821 and died here in 1867.

This charming and touching grave shows Charles Pigeon and his wife in bed, reading by the light of the gas lamp he invented.