Jim Morrison bust stolen from Doors singer’s Paris grave in the ‘80s has
finally been recovered
[May 21, 2025]
PARIS (AP) — Police have found a bust of Jim Morrison that was
stolen nearly four decades ago from the Paris grave that has long been a
place of pilgrimage for fans of the legendary Doors singer and poet.
The bust taken in 1988 from Père-Lachaise cemetery was found during an
unrelated investigation conducted by a financial anti-corruption unit,
Paris police said in an Instagram post Monday.
There was no immediate word on whether the bust would be returned to the
grave or what other investigation might take place.
Morrison, the singer of Doors classics including “Light My Fire,” “Break
on Through,” and “The End,” was found dead in a Paris bathtub at age 27
in 1971.
He was buried at Père-Lachaise, the city's cemetery that is the final
resting place of scores of artists, writers and other cultural
luminaries including Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein and
Edith Piaf.
The 300-pound bust made by Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin was added to
the grave in 1981 for the 10th anniversary of the singer's death.
“I think it would be incredible if they put the bust back onto where it
was and it would attract so many more people, but the cemetery wouldn’t
even be able to hold that many people,” Paris tour guide Jade Jezzini
told The Associated Press. “The amount of people who would rush in here
just to see the bust to take pictures of it, it would be incredible.”
Known for his dark lyrics, wavy locks, leather pants, theatrical stage
presence and mystical manner, Morrison has inspired generations of
acolytes who congregate at his grave to reflect and sometimes to party,
including a major gathering for the 50th anniversary of his death. The
site has often been covered with flowers, poetic graffiti and liquor
bottles left in tribute.
He was undergoing a cultural renaissance when the bust was stolen in the
late 1980s, which peaked with the 1991 Oliver Stone film “The Doors,” in
which Val Kilmer, who died in April, played Morrison.
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This Sept. 7, 1971 file photo shows the grave of Jim Morrison, lead
singer of the rock group "The Doors," at the Pere Lachaise cemetery
in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Joe Marquette,File)
London artist Sam Burcher recently returned to the now more subdued
grave site that she first visited 40 years ago when the sculpture of
Morrison was still in place.
“The bust was much smaller than all of these grand tombs. It was very
modest, so I was quite surprised by that,” she told the AP. “But the
other thing was the atmosphere, it was buzzing. There were people
partying, smoking, music, dancing, and then I brought strawberries and
kind of gave them out to everyone ... it was just such an amazing
experience.”
Morrison cofounded the Doors in Los Angeles in 1965 with Ray Manzarek.
Robby Krieger and John Densmore joined soon after.
The band and its frontman burned brightly but briefly, releasing albums
including “The Doors” “Strange Days," and “Morrison Hotel, whose The
California site that gave that album its name and cover image was
seriously damaged in a fire last year.
After their final album, 1971’s “L.A. Woman,” Morrison moved to Paris.
His cause of death was listed as heart failure, though no autopsy was
performed as none was required by law. Disputes and myths have
surrounded the death and added to his mystique.
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