Notes from the Underground – in Paris.

I left you last time with me exasperated by the atypical Paris weather in November and deciding to go underground out of the snow and wind and cold. Underground? What – into the metro? No, something much more unusual – and spooky: into the Catacombs of Paris! 

As Wikipedia informs us, Les Catacombes de Paris are “underground ossuaries … which hold the remains of more than six million [!] people … They were created as part of the effort to eliminate the effects of the city’s overflowing cemeteries” in the 1700s. They’re a labyrinth of passages, tunnels and wells that stretch some 300 kilometers in length! As far as I understood, much of this underground network (including the Mines of Paris) is closed to the public – with entrance thereto prohibited by law.

Other parts of the Catacombs are open to the public and rather a hit among tourists:

At first – regular, common or garden tunnels; suddenly – the walls become…

Yes – those are real. Bones and skulls. Beholding them all gives you the shivers (and we were here to get out of the cold!!). The vast quantities of them are pretty mind-blowing. At first you think “no – not possible”, but it is – all here under the French capital!…

A look around the Catacombs starts out innocuously enough – here at the entrance building thereto. We were a little late so I didn’t have time to take a photo of it, so here’s Google Maps‘ pic:

Logically, down we go!…

We were told we’d be descending deep into the bowels of the earth underneath Paris, but it turned out that the Catacombs are a mere ~20 meters below the surface…

Backgrounders:

Ahead – a little over a kilometer of underground tunnels on our route:

Bags are checked on the way in – as was to be expected. But, curiously, they’re also checked on the way out! But of course – can’t be having folks gouging out a skull or bone to take home with them as a souvenir now can we?!…

Skulls aren’t to be touched – or graffitied on. Quite right; hardly respectful of the dead that would be…

And keep quiet – this is, after all, a massive mausoleum.

Underground tours for visitors have been provided since 1874. I’m sure the experience would have been somewhat different by candlelight…

We enter a tunnel that seems to go on forever:

Getting tight ->

The name of the street above us at this spot:

Some walls have a year etched into them. This is the year in which, behind a given wall, bones of the dead were placed after being transferred there from old Parisienne cemeteries; here, for example – 1781:

Onward…

Every now and then corridors or passages fork off the main tunnel. I wonder where they go? I didn’t fancy finding out…

Junction:

We approach the main feature: the open catacomb of human remains – bones and skulls of the dead brought here from old Parisienne cemeteries – all ~six million of them!…

Plenty of historical data shown:

Up ahead several hundred meters of skulls and bones ->

Is that a heart? There’s not much love in a catacomb, I mused ->

All the bones were disinfected way back when. Otherwise I guess there could have been an unsavory smell.

Since visitors are asked here to remain completely silent, I’ll reduce my words here to a bare minimum…

Well:

Endless rows of skulls and bones:

An original well – which they used to lift stone carved out during construction of the Catacombs:

This part of the Catacombs was bored out this century. And it means we’re near the exit ->

At the exit – souvenirs. A little macabre, I thought. “Souvenirs of Death”. Could be a track by Slayer!

“Pencils of Death” ->

“Fridge Magnets of Death”:

And that was that. Here’s the exit – in-between ordinary apartment buildings. Not sure I’d like to live next to that – especially on the lower floors…

The only clue you’re given that the building is the exit from the Catacombs is this! ->

Catacombs: done; Paris: done. Time to be heading back home…

The rest of the photos from Paris are here.