True romance? Abélard and Héloïse, shown in a 13th-century manuscript illustration. Widely celebrated as an exemplar of romantic love, in truth their relationship was characterised by violence and codependency
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Many millions of visitors have streamed through the gates of the sprawling Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris since they first opened in the early 19th century. Some come to pay their respects to the many modern cultural icons buried here, leaving flowers on the grave of the singer Édith Piaf or lipstick kisses on the monument to Oscar Wilde.
Some, though, are drawn to a memorial tucked away in a corner just to the right of the cemetery’s main entrance. This tomb supposedly houses the remains of two people who had already acquired semi-legendary status many centuries before the first grave was dug at Père Lachaise. It is the reputed resting place of the 12th-century abbess Héloïse of Argenteuil and her husband, philosopher Pierre Abélard.