Explore Paris’ macabre side. Get ready for some bones, lots and lots of bones.
It may be unsettling, but people are drawn to the macabre. The Victorians were obsessed with death, and we aren’t much different today. Not surprisingly, one of Paris’ top attractions are its infamous catacombs.
Just slightly creepy. Yes, those are all bones.
The remains of over 6 million Parisians are to be found here in these old, abandoned stone mines. The catacombs were born out of growth. Cemeteries inside of the city were filled to capacity and the city boundaries were constantly growing larger. Something had to been done. Everything moved underground.
Luckily the city had a vast network of underground tunnels waiting to be used. In 1785, this became a reality and the cemeteries within the city were being emptied with their dead taken to the new catacombs.
At first the organization was really disorganized, but in 1810, Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury, director of the Paris Mine Inspection Service, conducted renovations of the catacombs that transformed them to the orderly piles we see today.
From the above ground entrance, you have to walk a ways through some tunnels to get to the catacombs.
You end up in this pillared room to start your journey into what feels like the underworld.
“Stop! This is the empire of death.” They like a bit of drama here.
And so, it begins.
Just piles of people’s skulls. As someone that has studied anthropology, I found the catacombs amazing.
Just rows and rows of bones.
Not all the bones came to the catacombs right away, some came much later. These remains came from the Cimetiere St-Jean and were originally buried in 1846-1847. They were then moved to the catacombs in 1859. Removing remains buried in a cemetery to make more room for newer remains was and still is common in Europe.
They couldn’t resist making designs in the piles. You usually only see femurs and skulls. The rest of the bones were piled in the back.
The catacombs go on and on. However, only a small portion is open for visitors. Regular daily visits started all the way back in 1874.
Tombstones from the original cemeteries were used for decorations throughout the catacombs, along with the crosses like the one seen above.
I’ll admit, this design is just creepy.
Yes, the catacombs are a creepy tourist attraction. However, it is fascinating. It reminds us how remains were once treated before modern times. They were often removed to ossuaries after the body decayed and put in a box. Sometimes these were mass ossuaries, sometimes family mausoleums. Tombs were leased and not bought. When leases run out and no one was left or willing to pay, the remains were removed to ossuaries as well. Many of the remains in the catacombs were from mass graves. People weren’t buried in mass graves just because of war or genocide, but because their families couldn’t afford the lease for a proper tomb. Burial practices have changed a lot over the last two centuries, the catacombs serve to remind us how we treat the dead changes over time.
Check out all my other posts on Cemeteries and Tombs!
This is creepy, I have seen similar in Prague. Not to that extent.