Long-Lost Bust of Jim Morrison Is Recovered in Paris

A bust of Jim Morrison that was stolen from his gravesite in Paris in 1988 was rediscovered last week, the French police said Monday.

The bust had been taken from Père-Lachaise, the cemetery in the 20th arrondissement in east Paris where many notable figures are buried, including Frédéric Chopin, Gertrude Stein, Richard Wright, Édith Piaf, Sarah Bernhardt and Oscar Wilde.

A spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office said the find was made by chance during a search carried out in connection with an unrelated investigation, but declined to comment further.

The police and the mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment. There was no immediate word on when or if the bust would be returned to the gravesite.

Morrison, the lead singer of the Doors, known for hits like “Light My Fire” and “Riders on the Storm,” died in Paris in 1971 at age 27, officially of heart failure, although he had struggled with drugs and alcohol and no autopsy was performed. He had moved there a few months before.

Despite the notability of many of those interred around him, Morrison’s grave has consistently been among the most popular for the millions of tourists who visit every year, many of them not yet born when he died.