You are wondering around Paris in July. It’s hot, but coffee shops and restaurants are crowded with Parisians and tourists. What do you do?
The complex network of tunnels under Paris is cool and refreshing. For just 12 euros, you can travel through the tunnels and cool off. You may even need a jacket!
Lining the walls of the tunnel is an elaborate display of bones. This may seem dark and morbid, but I found it to be more of a curiosity than anything creepy. The bones are hundreds of years old placed there before there was even a city above it.
In the late 1700s Paris had a problem. Between the age of the city (it was founded in 3rd century BC, almost 2,000 years before this 18th century AD problem), and the massive amounts of deaths caused by disease and famine, bodies were literally piling up in the French city. In fact, there was a literal flood of bodies when a flood broke the the perimeter of cemeteries, unburying and flowing the corpses into the street. It was a smelly problem.
So, in 1777, King Louis XVI ordered the movement of Paris’s corpses to some abandoned quarries outside of the city. These quarries contained limestone that was mined to build up the city of Paris. Now they were an abandoned tunnel system ready for millions of bones.
And I do mean millions. The bones of 6 million people are buried in the catacombs.
Workers started by just throwing the bones into the underground tunnels, but they began to get creative. Napoleon, keeping with his flashy style, actually had some forethought here. Inspired by the Roman catacombs (Yes, there are catacombs in Rome too. I had no idea! They are much more architecturally elaborate, brought on by Christian persecution and a law against burying the dead in within city walls. What’s the worst that could happen burying the dead in the cirty?), he ordered the bones be placed in a display for future tourists. This is what you can see now with the bones arranged in piles of tibias and femurs, as well as in shapes like crosses and hearts.
One worker, Decuré, spent his spare time in the catacombs carving the stone. One of those renderings was the Citadel of Mahon, a church on an island in Spain, (random enough for you?). You can still see it today. Other exhibits, like the ancient bones of the deformed (so morbidly curious about this one), and a display of the types of minerals found in the tunnels (not so curious about this one though), are no longer open to the public.
Not open to the public, though, is not stopping Cataphiles (catacomb lovers and explorers). A group of Parisians have taken their curiosity and love of adventure to the next level, finding and making new entrances and exits into the catacombs. They explore tunnels not part of the public tour, as well as open restaurants and movie theaters underneath Paris.
Some of it is legal. In the 19th century, Farmers discovered wild mushrooms is the cool dark caverns and began planting them intentionally. You can still find farmers tending to their mushroom crop. Supposedly, you can even walk away with your own handful of button mushrooms if you visit.
Airbnb has also offered a room in the catacombs for a spooky Halloween evening! The room is set up for a whole romantic evening, including a candlelit dinner. Guests enjoy their night by agreeing to respect the catacombs “as you would your own grave”. Learn more about this unusual rental here, reported by a Parisian and fellow blogger.
Legality does not stop explorers though. One summer, Parisians took advantage of the freshwater pools in the old quarry tunnels. In the tunnels, police found a movie theater set up next to a restaurant with only a note saying: Try to find us! One blogger asked a cataphile to take her down for an illegal tour of the tombs. You can see her tour here. It’s pretty cool; if you are at all curious, I highly recommend it. I can imagine it gave everyone quite an adrenaline rush!
One thing you don’t see on the tour are the bunkers from World War II. The French and Germans used the catacombs to keep their movements secret.
I did not partake in any illegal activity on my tour of the catacombs. I was on a three week Europe vacation with my sister. As two scary movie lovers, the plans for our stop in Paris had to include the catacombs.
Is it weird to be smiling in front of a pile of bones?
It started with a dizzying trip down a narrow spiral staircase, and then a seemingly never ending tunnel surrounded by human bones. As I said earlier, it was surprisingly not spooky. Maybe creep factor was ruined by having a whole tour group walking through the tunnels along with us. I wonder if I would have felt the same going on a smaller tour or an illegal one like the cataphiles take.
The catacombs was a unique experience. Where else would it be socially acceptable to pile bones in underground tunnels (Don’t get me wrong. Workers started this project at night to avoid push back from the citizen, but once the deed was done, everyone was okay with it)? Not only are the catacombs accepted, they are sought out. We waited in line at 8:30 in the morning to get our turn in the underground tomb (travel tip! Go on the first Sunday of the month and your tour is free!).
And you can’t forget the gift shop!
Has anyone else visited Paris’s catacombs? What about Rome’s? What was your experience like? Let me know on the comments below!