Published: May 22, 2025
Morrison cofounded the Doors in Los Angeles in 1965 with Ray Manzarek.
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.
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.
