Enjoy the trip # 4 - Catacombs of Paris

Catacombs in Paris are probably the most famous in the world.

The term, however, was misused to designate an ossuary - a place where human skeletons are stored. The bones contain the remains of about 6 million people and fill a renewed section of caves and tunnels, which are remains of stone quarries. This gives them the reputation of "the largest cemetery in the world".

In the 4th-5th century, due to the fall of the Roman Empire and the constant raids of the Franks, Parisians moved to the left on the right bank of the river, the place they had used for a cemetery until then. So, instead of burying the dead away from settlements, the right bank of Paris begins its life with cemeteries in the very center.

To make room for more burials, the bones of the long dead are bent and laid on the roofs and walls of the ossuaries built on the inside of the cemetery walls. At the end of the 19th century, the central cemetery was a two-meter-high mound full of Parisians of countless centuries, whether they had died from infection, starvation or wars, along with the remains of Hôtel-Dieu Hospital and the morgue.

The left coast is on rich limestone deposits. A large part of the city was built from this stone, but the building material was extracted from outside the settlements. Because of the chaotic excavation works after the 12th century, in which horizontal tunnels were excavated to the deposits, many of these (often illegal) mines were not mapped and, after their exhaustion, abandoned and forgotten. Paris has grown over the centuries and in the 18th century many of the neighborhoods have been joined by former mining territories.

The decision to remove the graveyard was issued on May 30, 1780, when a wall in a basement connected with the cemetery was placed under the weight of a mass grave. The cemetery is closed to people, and all intra muros burials are forbidden, but the problem of what to do with the cemeteries remains.

The renovation of the mines was conducted by lieutenant-general Alexander Lenoir. He fully supported the idea of moving the dead to the newly renovated underground passages that existed since 1782. After deciding to further renovate the Tombe-Issoire tunnels for their future role in underground crypt, the idea became law at the end of 1785

Beginning with an opening ceremony on April 7, the road between Les Innocets and Clos de la Tombe-Issoire turns into a catholic procession of wrapped wagons in a black cloth carrying the millions of dead Parisians. It takes 2 years to move the cemetery.

The catacombs in their early years are filled with scattered bones, but Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury, head of the Paris Inspectorate in 1810, renews the renovations that will transform the tunnels into an impressive mausoleum.

The Catacombs of Paris have attracted interest among the more privileged Parisians since its creation, the first significant visitor to have been the Earl of Artois (later King Charles X) in 1787. The first known public visits began after the renovation of the underground and the war of 1814- 1815 First access is allowed only a few times a year with the permission of the Mining Inspection, then the number of visits with a guide is increased.

The catacombs begin with halls and tunnels of carefully arranged bones. Some of the layouts are almost exquisite, eg. Skulls, arranged in the form of a heart, edged in a frame by tweeters; others are in a round hall whose central column is a carefully constructed "barrel" of bones. It is also possible to see other monuments created in the years before the renovation of the catacombs, such as the La Samaritaine fountain, named after the engraved engravings later. There are also a number of rusty gates blocking the passageways to other unseen parts of the catacombs - many of which are either incomprehensible or too complex for ordinary visits.

Although the catacombs provide space for the burial of the dead, they are a discomfort to the buildings above them; as the catacombs are right under the Parisian streets, huge foundations cannot be laid. For this reason, there are not very tall buildings in this part of town. Today, the existence of the catacombs is threatened, mainly due to the presence of groundwater.