Paris Catacombs

This is the one new site that I got to visit this year that I have not seen before.  I had no idea of the history of the catacombs and learned a lot.  They are not like the ones in Rome at all.  The site was originally a quarry for limestone which was used to build many of the great structures around the city, including Notre Dame and the Louvre.  Rather than being an open pit quarry, it was all done underground and lifted to the surface through shafts.  The extent of the quarry was extensive.  In places they left small columns of stone in place to support the ceiling, in other places they removed all the stone but built support columns from left over stone.  Eventually they stopped working the quarry and the city continued to grow and expand, including over the top of the quarry area.  After several pretty signifant cave ins, the population convinced the city that measures needed to be taken to stabilize the tunnels and this was done.  At this same time, the city cemetaries were overflowing and illness was spreading from the rotting remains.  The city decided to dig up the remains in cemetaries around the city and place all the bones down in the quarry in neat stacks.  The result is the remains of over 6 million people placed in the catacombs/old quarry.

The map shows the extent of the tour that is open.  The dotted orange line is the long assess tunnel through the quarry area to the area where the remains are laid to rest (the black lines).

The long tunnel we walked to access the ossorary.

The black line was drawn on the ceiling in the earliest days when tours occurred (when there was not electricity - talk about a freaky experience).  We were curious how it was painted on since there was not spray paint back then.

The support columns were blocks of stone (seen in shadow), or unmortared walks keeping back the dirt and debris (in the background).

There were dates inserted in the walls by the inspectors and companies that did the support work throughout the quarry (this one days to 1783)

This iis the actual entry to the burial part of the complex.  "Stop.  This is the Emire of the Dead".

Skulls stacked in rows on top of tightly piled leg and arm bones (not sure where the smaller bones ended up).

Each room had a sign that noted which cemetary the remains had come from.  These were from St. Jean and deposited in the catacombs in 1859.

I liked this picture because you could see how the quarry men worked the ceiling as well as the bones that were stacked later.

There were some pretty significant cave ins that this picture models.