Catacombs of Paris

Paris' cemeteries

During the Roman-era, Paris's earliest burial grounds were located to the southern outskirts of the city on the Left Bank. However, due to the Frankish invasions and the end of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, the Parisians moved to the marshy Right Bank. The first known settlement was established around the 4th century near a Saint-Etienne church and burial ground, located behind the current Hôtel de Ville. The urban expansion on the Right Bank began in the late 10th century, as other ecclesiastical landowners filled in the marshlands. Interestingly, instead of burying their dead away from inhabited areas, Parisians began with cemeteries near the centre of their settlement.

The burial ground around the Notre-Dame-des-Bois church, located in the heart of Paris, became the property of the Saint-Opportune parish after the original church was demolished by the Norman invasions in the 9th century. The cemetery filled the land between the present-day rue Saint-Denis, rue de la Ferronnerie, rue de la Lingerie, and the rue Berger, and by the end of the 12th century, it had become the city's primary cemetery. As the population grew, the cemetery began to overflow, and to make room for more burials, the long-dead were exhumed, and their bones were packed into the roofs and walls of "charnier" galleries built inside the cemetery walls. By the end of the 18th century, the central burial ground had become a two-meter-high mound of earth filled with centuries of Parisian dead, along with the remains from the Hôtel-Dieu hospital and the Morgue.

Despite several decrees limiting the use of the cemetery, the situation continued to worsen, and it was not until the late 18th century that a decision was made to create three new large-scale suburban burial grounds on the outskirts of the city. In addition, all existing parish cemeteries within the city limits were condemned. These measures were taken to address the dire conditions at Les Innocents cemetery, which was the worst of all the Parisian parishes.

The future ossuary: Paris's former mines

The Left Bank area of Paris was largely constructed using limestone deposits from the Lutetian era, which were quarried in suburban areas away from human habitation. The mining technique used after the 12th century was haphazard, involving digging wells down to the deposit and extracting it horizontally until it was depleted. As a result, many of the mines were uncharted and often abandoned and forgotten once depleted. Over time, Paris annexed its suburbs, and by the 18th century, many of its administrative districts included previously mined territories.

The unstable condition of the Left Bank was first recognized by architects during the construction of the Val-de-Grâce hospital in the early 17th century. However, a series of mine cave-ins beginning in 1774, with the collapse of a house on "rue d'Enfer," led King Louis XVI to commission an investigation into the state of the Parisian underground. This ultimately led to the creation of the Inspection Générale des Carrières (Inspection of Mines) service.

Ossuary creation

The collapse of a basement wall adjoining Les Innocents cemetery on May 31, 1780, intensified the need to relocate the remains of the dead buried within the city walls of Paris. As a result, the cemetery was closed, and all burials within the city walls were prohibited. The problem of overcrowded intra muros cemeteries persisted, and solutions were sought to address this issue.

The underground around the site of the 1777 collapse was already being reinforced with stone and masonry inspection passageways due to ongoing mine consolidations. These issues fell under the jurisdiction of Police Lieutenant-General Alexandre Lenoir, who had previously been involved in the creation of a mine inspection service. Lenoir supported the idea of relocating Parisian dead to the subterranean passageways, and after further renovations, the idea became law in late 1785.

The remains of Les Innocents cemetery were relocated to the subterranean passageways, which were transformed into an underground sepulchre. A property above one of the main passageways was chosen as the location for the remains, and it was converted into a museum for headstones, sculptures, and other artifacts retrieved from the cemetery. A procession of black cloth-covered wagons carrying the millions of Parisian dead became a nightly sight between Les Innocents and the "clos de la Tombe-Issoire" from the opening ceremony on April 7, 1786. It took two years to empty the majority of Paris's cemeteries, including Saints-Innocents, Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, Madeleine Cemetery, Errancis Cemetery, and Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux.

The Catacombs also became the final resting place for the skeletal remains of several leaders of the French Revolution, including Maximilien Robespierre and Georges Danton, whose remains were transferred there.

Renovation and ossuary decor

Initially disorganized and used as a repository for bones, the Catacombs underwent renovations under the direction of Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury, the head of the Paris Mine Inspection Service in 1810. The caverns were transformed into a visitable mausoleum, and de Thury oversaw the stacking of skulls and femurs into the decorative patterns that can be seen in the catacombs today. He also utilized cemetery decorations that had been stored on the Tombe-Issoire property, which had been lost after the 1789 Revolution, to enhance the walls of bones. Two new rooms were created to showcase the minerals found under Paris and the various skeletal deformities discovered during the catacombs' creation and renovation.

To further enhance the visitor experience, de Thury added monumental tablets and archways bearing ominous warning inscriptions, as well as stone tablets with descriptions and comments about the nature of the ossuary. The catacombs were also walled off from the extensive tunnel network that existed under Paris's Left Bank to ensure visitors' safety. Thanks to de Thury's efforts, the Catacombs have become one of Paris's most famous tourist attractions.

Modern

The catacombs of Paris have a rich history, serving various purposes throughout the centuries. In 1788, bodies from the riots in the Place de Grève, Hôtel de Brienne, and Rue Meslée were laid to rest in the catacombs. The remains of Philibert Aspairt, a hospital doorkeeper lost in the catacombs during 1793 and found 11 years later, have a dedicated tomb where his body was discovered.

During World War II, the tunnel system of the catacombs was used by the French Resistance, who established their headquarters in the catacombs. The Nazis also established an underground bunker beneath Lycée Montaigne, a high school in the 6th arrondissement.

In 2004, police discovered a fully equipped movie theater in an area of the catacombs beneath the Trocadéro. The group responsible for its installation, les UX, had equipped it with a giant cinema screen, seats for the audience, projection equipment, film reels, a fully stocked bar, and a complete restaurant.

The catacombs were used as a filming location for the first time in 2014, when the movie As Above, So Below was produced with the permission of the French government. The filmmakers made minimal alterations to the environment, adding only a piano and a car which were later set on fire.

In 2015, Airbnb paid €350,000 for a publicity stunt offering customers the chance to stay overnight in the catacombs.

Unfortunately, the catacombs have also been the site of criminal activity. In August 2017, thieves broke into a cellar from the catacombs and stole more than €250,000 worth of wine.

Above the entrance to the Catacombs of Paris is a sign that reads "Stop! This is the empire of Death." Initially a curiosity for the wealthy, the catacombs were opened to the public after their renovation as an ossuary in 1814-1815. Visits were restricted at first, but a flood of visitors eventually led to a rule that required permission to enter. The catacombs were closed in 1833 due to opposition from the church but opened again for limited visits starting in 1850. As demand grew, the government allowed more frequent visits and eventually opened the catacombs for daily tours. In 2009, the catacombs were temporarily closed due to vandalism and reopened later that year. Following COVID-19, the catacombs reopened in June 2020 with strict crowd monitoring and mask-wearing requirements.

Due to the catacombs being situated directly beneath the streets of Paris, it is not feasible to construct large foundations above them. This has resulted in the collapse of buildings due to cave-ins, consequently limiting the number of tall structures in the region.