The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuarys in Paris, France. Located south of the former city gate, the ossuary holds the remains of about six million people and fills a renovated section of caverns and tunnels that are the remains of Paris's stone mines. Opened in the late 18th century, the underground cemetery became a tourist attraction on a small scale from the early 19th century, and has been open to the public on a regular basis from 1874. Well worth a visit: the atmosphere is suitably morbid and gloomy (without being too scary), the dark tunnels containing neatly stacked piles of skulls and long bones.
Paris' catacombs became a 'curiosity' for Paris' more privileged from their creation, the first known visitor of note being France's King Charles X in 1787, but the first known public visits only began after its renovation into a proper ossuary and the 1814-1815 war.
The Catacombs entry is in the western pavilion of Paris's former Barrière d'Enfer city gate. After passing through a long and twisting hallway of mortared stone, visitors find themselves before a stone portal, the ossuary entry, with the inscription "Stop! Here lies the Empire of Death".
Beyond begin the halls and caverns of walls of carefully arranged bones. Some of the arrangements are almost artistic in nature, such as a heart-shaped outline in one wall formed with skulls embedded in surrounding tibias; another is a round room whose central pillar is also a carefully created 'keg' bone arrangement. Along the way one would find other 'monuments' created in the years before catacomb renovations, such as a source-gathering fountain baptised "La Samaritaine" because of later-added engravings.
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The Catacombs (Underground Ossuarys) of Paris - YouTube | |
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| Travel & Events | Upload TimePublished on 12 Jun 2014 |
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