Articles | Volume 81, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-361-2026
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-361-2026
Standard article
 | 
03 Jul 2026
Standard article |  | 03 Jul 2026

When the city wakes the dead – silence, noise pollution, and politics within the contemporary French cemetery

Louis Dall'Aglio

Cited articles

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Short summary
This article is about silence in French cemeteries. Cemeteries are often expected to be silent to allow for peaceful meditation, and local rules and regulations do show a well-established expectation for quietness. However, while historically expelled from the city’s limits, cemeteries have been increasingly integrated within the urban matrix and its noisier environment. This raises the question of the contemporary metropolis contempt for the dead and their spaces.
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