When you think of Paris, the Eiffel tower is what comes to mind. Paris has long been one of the major centres for art, fashion, and romance. A popular destination for art lovers who throng to see the Mona Lisa, and couples on their honeymoons who prefer spending the night under a sparkling Eiffel Tower with their better halves.
But Paris is not all romance and love. Deep down, under the streets, through a maze of tunnels, it holds a dark secret. If you do visit this magnificent city, don’t miss the Catacombs. The Catacombs of Paris is nothing but a network of mines running deep underground the city.
The entrance reveals a staircase that takes you back 45 million years, until you reach a bed of limestone. The bottom of the underground mines is almost 30 metres below the ground level. The underground walkways have an inscription on them which gives the year in which it was built, the series number and the name of the dude who oversaw the build. For example, this one was the fifth in a series built in 1847 under Quarry Inspector Juncher:
Trudging through the tunnels:
No-one knows when exactly these mines were dug. The earliest mention of it is in the town’s register in 1292. The mines were eventually abandoned and forgotten.
A small section of these mines is now open for tourists. As you go deeper and deeper into the mines, you find this:
Yes. This is Paris’ deep dark secret. Millions of bones lie buried in the mines deep under the city. How did they end up here, you might wonder. This is the result of overflowing cemeteries in the city. More than 6 million people have reported to been buried here.
It all began in the late eighteenth century, when the Saints-Innocent cemetery began to overflow and posed a health risk to the occupants of the city. The graveyard was shut in 1780 after consecutive use for nearly 10 centuries. From 1785, the tombs were emptied off their bones and were transported to the quarries, where they were dumped. This operation was carried out during the night to prevent any opposition from the people of Paris and the church. Soon, other cemeteries were also emptied and the operation continued till 1814. The transfers again began in 1840.
The bones were initially dumped in a heap in the quarries. In 1786, the place was christened ‘Paris Municipal ossuary’ but soon took the name ‘Catacombs’, in reference to the Roman Catacombs. In 1809, it was opened to the public for the first time, and it soon became very popular. The Catacombs was visited by the then Austrian emperor and Napolean III. However, as the bones were stacked haphazardly, it would have been a mess.
In 1810, under Inspector Hericart de Thury, the Catacombs underwent a major transformation. The bones were rearranged and were stacked to form a wall. It now consists of rows of tibiae (the bone between the knee and the ankle) and skulls. The remaining smaller bones, and those broken after being dumped in the quarry, were piled behind the wall of bones. Thury also tried to put an educational aspect into the tourist attraction.
You will find memorials in the Catacombs for the people who went missing in the tunnels and their remains were later found, and boards which tell you where the bones came from. For example, this one says that the bones seen here came from the Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs cemetery:
You will find memorials in the Catacombs for the people who went missing in the tunnels and their remains were later found, and boards which tell you where the bones came from. For example, this one says that the bones seen here came from the Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs cemetery:
The bones were also arranged in different shapes:
With love, from the Catacombs:
While I was exiting the Catacombs, my backpack was subjected to a search by the officials. I was told there have been instances where people have tried to steal or smuggle bones out of the Catacombs. I definitely do not want a skull that is a few hundred years old as an ornament next to my bed.
The entire circuit open for tourists is 1.5 km long and consists of 243 steps (131 to go down and 112 to climb up).
In 2004, the police found a fully equipped movie theatre in the Catacombs. It had a giant screen, seats, projection equipment, film reels, a fully stocked bar and even a restaurant with tables and chairs. The source of electric power for the underground theatre and the people responsible still remains a mystery. The police found a note that read, "Do not try to find us". Even the dead need entertainment.
It is claimed that the Catacombs, which is now one of the 14 museums controlled by the Paris Musees, gets around 5,50,000 visitors annually. If this is your idea of an ideal honeymoon, don't miss this attraction the next time you are in the city.
