Catacombs of Paris

In the Catacombs of Paris, an underground ossuary was created to solve a civic emergency: overflowing cemeteries in the capital. The remains of more than six million people were brought here to consolidate the city’s ancient stone quarries, extending south from the former Barrière d’Enfer, the “Gate of Hell.” Preparation work accelerated after a 1774 series of basement wall collapses near the Holy Innocents’ Cemetery made the threat of burial ground decay urgent. From 1788, nightly, covered wagon processions transferred remains from most Paris cemeteries toward a mine shaft opened near the Rue de la Tombe-Issoire. For a time, the tunnels became a novelty venue in the early 19th century, before further renovations and new accesses connected to the area around Place Denfert-Rochereau. Public visitation began in 1874, and since 2013 the Catacombs have been managed by Paris Musées as one of the City of Paris’s fourteen museum sites. …

AI-generated from open data and cross-checked, with review where noted. How we write narrations

+−

© OpenStreetMap contributors, © Carto

View on WayWhisper map ↗