In Paris , what ’s beneath the sidewalk is as exciting as the memorial that tower above them . The underground is a labyrinth of canals , crypts , vault , artificial lake , and century of mile of tunnel right for geographic expedition . Some people who rove beneath the city are doing it lawlessly torepair neglected treasure , throw parties , or paint murals , but there are legal ways to explore the canals and crypts , too .
For a fee , access is granted toan approve incision ofles égouts — or the sewers — which Victor Hugo called " the conscience of the city " inLes Miserables.(To accurately write about Jean Valjean ’s head trip through the gutter , Hugo called on help from his friend , gutter inspector Emmanuel Bruneseau . ) visitor with more macabre interests , however , can descend 65 feet underground , below the metro and the sewer , to walk amongst the bones of the dead in the famousles Carrieres de Paris — also known asthe Catacombs .
Arrête, C’est Ici L’empire de la Mort
Forty - five million year ago , a tropic ocean covered the area that would become Paris . Over time , the sediment on the Davy Jones’s locker became formation of limestone , which the Romans would mine when Paris was known as Roman Lutetia . Open stone pit Hell gave direction to nearly 187 miles of underground tunnels , which provided the stone that build up the Louvre and Notre Dame .
finally , the quarries were desolate . But in the 18th hundred , they became the beneficial solution to Paris ’s growing public health problem .
In the former 1700s , the mass graves at cemeteries like saint - Innocents in Paris ’s Les Halles district were overcrowded with bodies . wrong garbage disposal of corps led to unsanitary experimental condition that contributed to the spread of disease .
To keep start the bread and butter , authorities shut down Saint - Innocents and , in April 1786 , began relocating the remains buried in the cemetery to theTombe - Issoirequarries , which had been hallow and consecrated for the design . Transferring the clappers from the Saints - Innocents Cemetery — the large in Paris — took two yr . Between 1787 and 1814 , clappers were shift from other Parisian cemeteries ; the final transferee of bones rent place in 1859 .
A number of renowned masses buried in those burial ground likelyhad their bones remove to the Catacombs . The tilt includes writer Jean de La Fontaine ( Fables)and Charles Perrault ( cognize for faery tales likeLittle Red Riding Hood , Cinderella , andPuss in Boots ) , painter Simon Vouet , and architect Salomon de Brosse ( who design the metropolis ’s Luxembourg Palace ) . During the Revolution , masses were buried instantly in the Catacombs . Guillotine victims ended up there , too , include the likes of Maximilien Robespierre , Antoine Lavoisier , and Georges Danton , all beheaded in 1794 .
The Catacombs hold the artfully arranged remains of 6 to 7 million Parisians . Above the entering to the ossuary , carved into a stone , are the words “ Arrête , c’est ici l’empire de la mort . ”Stop , this is the empire of the all in .
Walking Among the Dead
The Catacombs opened to the public in the former 19th century . Visitors enroll on Avenue Rene Coty and descend 130 steps to the former mines , where a truly flighty , interesting journeying awaits .
The walls of the narrow corridors that go to the ossuary are marked with the names of the street and historic information . visitor will decease through " The Workshop , " an area of the former quarry featuring Lucy Stone pillars that support its ceiling .
Next is the Port - Mahon corridor , which features sculptures make by a quarryman describe Decure . The corridor is named for the carving of the Port - Mahon ; Decure , who had fought in the armies of Louis XV , may have been throw jailed at the fortress by the English . Visitors will also lapse the Quarryman ’s footbath , which was uncovered by workers and used for mixing cement .
And then comes the ossuary . The gossamer amount of bones in the former quarries is staggering . Though the bones inside are knavishly arranged now , it was n’t always that way ; at first , they were plainly thrown deep down . But around 1810 , Hericart de Thury , the examiner of the quarries , had the ivory prepare . ( Behind those facades , the rest of the bodies were piled in lots stretching back to the cavern ’s wall . )
In addition to these artfully arranged bone , visitor can see a number of interesting things , including commemorating plaque , a sepulchral lamp used by quarrier to disseminate air through the corridors , a cross and an altar , a spring calledFontain de la Samaritaine , and a single tombstone ( it belongs to Françoise Gellain ) . Two characteristic of the ossuary camouflage morphologic reinforcement : Gilbert ’s Tomb , which features a verse from the poet ( who is bury elsewhere ) , and a barrel - regulate display of skull and shinbones in the Crypt of the Passions . ( On April 2 , 1897 , two worker allow in scientist , learner , and creative person for a midway - of - the - night , very secret concert held in the crypt . When their identicalness were discovered , the worker were fired . )
prole are scatter throughout the Catacombs to answer questions , but mostly , visitors walk alone or with companions through the dimly light , moist , nearly - mum space . The convention when wander the catacomb are bare : Respect the final resting place of these Parisians . Look , but do n’t extend to . Do n’t leave your mark at all , specially with graffiti . It might be lure to snag yourself a souvenir from this most unique of attractive feature , but purse are explore for bone at the exit . If you ’re still looking for something to memorialise your visit , there ’s a gift store just across the street .
A interpretation of this story ran in 2013 ; it has been updated for 2022 .
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