The Catacombs of Paris, an unusual visit to the bowels of the capital

Have you ever ventured into the Catacombs of Paris? Let's go and discover this creepy brown place, known to all but where most have never been. A fascinating and historic site, a guided tour of the Catacombs is well worth the detour, as well as keeping you cool on hot days.

Okay, folks, let's start by not confusing the Catacombs of Paris (more on the Denfert-Rochereau side) with the Crypte de Paris (the Gallo-Roman remains located beneath the Parvis de Notre-Dame de Paris)! With its hundreds of skulls and bones, the Catacombs are a mystical place that fascinates as much as it worries, forming a 350 km network beneath the capital.

Who are the dead of the Paris Catacombs? What can you visit in the Catacombs? What should you wear to visit them? At what age can you visit them? We'll try to answer your questions.

Let's get back to the history of the Catacombs. 20 meters underground, the quarries contain one of the strangest cemeteries in Paris. Built over an area of 11,000 m² in 1800, it brings together all the bones from cemeteries closed for reasons of insalubrity, notably the Cimetière des Innocents, a cemetery in the Halles district that contaminated the soil. By order of the King's Council in April 1777, the bodies and bones were moved to underground quarries, which were transformed into ossuaries!

This ossuary, rather than becoming a mass grave, was to become the Empire of Death, in a fascinating (disturbing?) presentation by Héricart de Thury; in 1809, the municipal ossuary was created!

We have to descend a spiral staircase to land in this timeless place: fortunately, we arrive in a psychological preparation room that explains why and how these millions of skulls landed underground, meticulously laid out in a 2 km path. It's only a tiny part of the Catacombs that can be visited "legally", even if many cataphiles like to give themselves a thrill by exploring them without authorization. To visit the Catacombs, don't forget your jacket. You don't need boots, but we do recommend flat shoes. It would be a shame to fall face first onto human bones...

The number of bones on site is impressive! In addition to the signs explaining the origin of the bones, we're disturbed by a number of inscriptions. We note this inscription by Lamartine: "Ainsi tout change, ainsi tout passe, ainsi nous-mêmes nous passions. Alas! without leaving more traces than this boat where we glide under this sea where everything fades away".

If the labyrinth is philosophical and makes us reflect on our place in the world, it's important to remember that this ossuary was imagined in a Christian kingdom, as can be seen in the many maxims that warn the impious.

Who stays in the catacombs, you ask? Illustrious figures as well as many unknowns, we can tell you. One 800-meter-long gallery, the famous Galerie des Ossements, is home to Charles Perrault, Rabelais and Racine, among others.

The Catacombs also feature a store, with books on the history of the site, literary works inspired by the catacombs and a wide range of skull-themed merchandise, from scented candles to designer jewelry!

An experience you won't soon forget! Don't forget to book your visit online, if you don't want to end up in the water!

Paris catacombs: historic restoration program to 2026
The famous Catacombs of Paris are launching a historic renovation program, a large-scale project that will run until 2026. Restoration of historic vaults and modernization of facilities are scheduled to begin this autumn. [Read more]

The Catacombs of Paris, an unusual visit to the bowels of the capital

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