Underground Paris. Catacombs of Paris: description, history and reviews of visitors. Catacombs in Paris Paris catacombs missing man expedition

Paris is the city of dreams and dreams, the city of love and romance, incredibly attractive, beautiful and unforgettable. An incredibly huge number of attractions are concentrated in Paris.

The underground city of the dead – the famous Parisian Catacombs – is very popular among tourists. Only the brave are able to descend into the mysterious and gloomy dungeon. Many come here to plunge into the mystery of the afterlife, others hope to encounter something otherworldly. There is an atmosphere of peace and quiet here; it seems that the spirit of death still hovers in these dark underground corridors.

History of origin

The history of the Paris Catacombs goes back to ancient times. In the 10th century, stone mining was carried out on this site. Surface reserves were gradually depleted, so it was necessary to dig pits and go deeper underground. This is how several huge underground mines appeared, in the place of which, over time, huge voids began to appear. They began to be used as cellars. For example, in 1259, the monks of nearby monasteries built wine cellars here.

The catacombs continued to grow, and by the 17th century, some Parisian streets and neighborhoods were practically over the abyss. Due to the threat of landslides, Louis the Sixteenth had to organize a special research expedition. Its main task was to study and strengthen emergency mines.

In the 17th century, the church played a significant role in the life of the state. There were a large number of them in Paris. Church ministers carefully honored and protected their interests. And since funeral services and burial brought them considerable income, they decided to found a cemetery on the site of former quarries. Mortality in those days was quite high - undeveloped medicine, outbreaks of plague, and ongoing military conflicts. As a result, more and more cemeteries began to appear on the territory of the underground city. The number of buried bodies far exceeded the allotted meters of land. As a result, various infections began to flare up in the city with renewed vigor, food turned sour and disappeared, and the cemetery became a gathering place for sorcerers, robbers and the homeless.

Not wanting to lose its income, the church defended its territory for a long time. But in 1763, thanks to the Parliament of Paris, burials within the city were still prohibited. And the underground city of the dead turned into the famous Parisian Catacombs.

Tour of the city of the dead

The tour of the underground city begins with a narrow spiral staircase. In order to go down, tourists have to overcome as many as 130 steps. Having passed this difficult path, visitors find themselves at a depth of 20 meters, the air temperature here is +14C. Here, in a mystical dungeon, the kingdom of spirits opens its doors to them. The journey continues along a long dark corridor, reminiscent of a large winding labyrinth. It leads to an ancient crypt, on both sides of which black and white columns stand like guards. In the middle there is a sign with the inscription “Here is the Empire of Death!”

Gloomy, dark corridors, eerie messages on signs, dim lighting, the sounds of water dripping somewhere, as well as millions of skulls with empty eye sockets, silently looking at visitors, involuntarily make you think about the frailty of life. After all, several hundred years ago, all these remains belonged to ordinary people who loved, rejoiced, cried, were afraid and made their plans.

The Catacombs of Paris are one endless museum, in which it’s easy to get lost without a guide. For such cases, the police work on the territory of the museum, looking for lost onlookers. The total area of ​​the catacombs is about 11 thousand square meters. The length of the tunnel reaches 300 kilometers. Millions and millions of Parisians are buried here. Among them are the famous French poet Charles Perrault, the famous Parisian rich man Nicolas Fouquet, and the revolutionary Maximilian Robespierre. It is known that their remains were buried in the city of the dead, but it is impossible to find them in this abyss of bones and skulls, since they all mixed together long ago, while others turned to dust and scattered in these long endless corridors.

Interestingly, the underground city was not always just a crypt. During the Second World War, fascist armories and secret laboratories were located here, and during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, important receptions and balls were held in the spacious halls of the catacombs.

Mysticism and supernatural

Legends and mystical stories have been written about the Paris Catacombs for hundreds of years. The French claim that the unfortunate people, lost in the tangled corridors of the dungeon, never found a way out and died. But the question arises: if they died here, then where are their bodies or at least their bones, because neither one nor the other was found.

Montsouris Park is located in the southern part of Paris. It is located directly above the catacombs. Townspeople claim that a mysterious ghost is walking through the park, visiting from a cold dungeon. Each of his appearances is accompanied by incredible cold and the terrible smell of death.

In 1846, another incredible incident occurred in the city, exciting the mind and imagination. At the old construction site, once owned by the merchant Lerible, strange things happened at night. As soon as the sun set below the horizon, stones began to fall on the house. The result is broken windows, dented doors and damaged frames. The police chased the vandals for a long time, and angry dogs were released onto the site at night. But everything was in vain, the pogroms continued, and then ended abruptly, as if nothing had happened. Mystics claim that this is the revenge of souls disturbed during construction work. Thus, they tried to drive away those who had so unceremoniously disturbed them.

The Parisian Catacombs are one of the most famous city attractions, imbued with the spirit of history, mysticism, mystery and unreality.

Paris is called the city of love, romance, fashion and style, and it is also called the “city of bones”. The city received this name thanks to the extensive network of underground tunnels on which Paris literally perches.

The Parisian Catacombs or les Catacombes de Paris are perhaps the most un-Parisian and gloomy place in the entire capital. Former quarries that have turned into one of the most popular attractions in Paris. They store memories of entire eras. The souls of millions languish in them.

An unexpected discovery. History of the Paris Catacombs.

In 1774, a week before Christmas, the main customs gate on the southern outskirts of Paris was busy as usual, the entrance to the city clogged with traffic. The city filled its markets and prepared for the holidays. And everything would have been as usual, but the cart coming from Orleans fell into a hole on the central road leading to Paris.

In any other place, no one would be surprised by a hole the size of a horse, but this hole appeared suddenly. This part of the road was called Rue d'Enfer or Hell's Street. A few hours later, panic seized the cattle at the customs gates, the roofs of the standing houses slanted, a terrifying crash was heard, and a cloud of dust rose into the air. When the dusty curtain lifted, the houses along the east side of Denfer Street were gone. At this place there gaped a huge chasm, later called the “gates of hell.” This was the first sign of an impending disaster, as a result of which almost twenty square kilometers between Montmartre and the Rue Montagne-Saint-Geneviève could be wiped off the face of the earth.

Saving Paris

A little more than two years later, a man appeared in Paris whose name was widely known throughout Europe. Architect Charles-Axel Guillemot arrived in Paris from Rome to inspect the site of the collapse and assess the reliability of the work that has been carried out over the past two years to prevent subsequent disasters. He became a quarry inspector.

For the next twelve years, Charles-Axel held this post and worked miracles wherever he could, underground. A map of the quarries was compiled on a scale of 1:216, which was a more accurate map than the map of Paris itself. Numerous rock falls have been transformed into beautiful swirling cones of masonry.

The terrible tunnels were fortified and ennobled by limestone walls, on the smooth surfaces of which inscriptions were carved indicating the number of works, the architect and the date. For the first two years, Guillemot “painted” the underground city. Every line of it turned into a street. He dug corridors under the facades of houses and “upper” Paris received its mirror image. Street names were engraved on the slabs, and a lily flower meant that there was a church or monastery somewhere nearby. Ten years later, when all the parts of the underground map were put together, the history of the city was revealed to Guillemot.

Ossuary

The Cemetery of the Innocents appeared in the 9th century outside the city. It was considered active for almost 900 years, until one day residents of the growing city discovered human remains in their basements. Then Guillemot proposed to transfer all the remains of centuries ago to the crypt, which he allowed to be organized in fortified quarries. In addition, all corpses that pollute the urban environment will be transferred here. For this purpose, 12,000 square meters were allocated under Denfer Street. In memory of Rome, Guillemot named the crypt the Catacombs.

In 1786, the transfer of dead Parisians began. For more than a year, residents were kept awake by torchlight, prayer songs from priests, and creaking carts filled with human bones. There were monks from monastery cemeteries, victims of St. Bartholomew's Night and their Catholic killers, and there were remains from unnamed cemeteries that appeared even before the baptism of the city in the 3rd century.

The number of skeletons transported over fifteen months was ten times the population of Paris at that time. Below, the bones were dismantled and laid out in columns and rows, walls were laid out from shin bones, and decorations were made from skulls. After the revolution, the Catacombs also accepted the remains of the aristocrats who died in that coup. And later, Charles-Axel Guillemot himself found himself among the nameless bones, finding peace in the dampness of his masterpiece.

For those wishing to visit the catacombs

Today, only a small part of the Catacombs is open to the public. However, nothing has changed there in more than two centuries. Anyone can take the tour by finding the pavilion on Place Denfert-Rochereau, next to the metro station of the same name. The day after the rain, most likely, the Catacombs will be closed, since water seeping through the ground floods the dungeon. The queue at the former quarries is almost the same as at the Eiffel Tower; it is worth remembering this when planning a visit to this mysterious, gloomy and mystical place, where witnesses of all the tragedies of Paris are buried.

How to get there?

The easiest way to get to the entrance to the Parisian catacombs is by metro, station Denfert-Rochereau.



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Ah, incomparable Paris! Home to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, old romantic streets and cafes... But wait a minute, it's Halloween season, so we'll leave those places for another article. This time we will talk about something that is also located in Paris, but is not at all cute. You may not know it, but underneath the city there is another city known as the Empire of the Dead. These catacombs of Paris are some of the largest and scariest catacombs in the world, and to show you just how scary this place can be, we present to you these twenty-five creepy photos of the Paris catacombs, the largest necropolis in the world.

25. To get to the catacombs, visitors are advised to take the metro and get off at Denfert Rochereau station. At the entrance to the catacombs there is a gate with a sign reading “Arrête! C"est ici l"empire de la Mort", which means "Stop! Here lies the Empire of Death."

24. You often have to wait 4 hours to enter because the number of visitors is limited to 200 people at a time, and most of the time hundreds of people crowd the entrance.

23. If an ominous sign and a long line aren't enough of an obstacle, then know that you will have to descend 130 steps 18 meters deep into the Parisian underground.

22. Narrow and slippery stone passages filled with musty, humid air will be the start of what will definitely be one of the scariest tours of your life.

21. From now on, only you, dark creepy tunnels and endless masses of bones remain in the catacombs. The tour takes approximately 45 minutes and covers only a tiny 2 kilometer section of the catacombs.

20. The catacombs originally served as tunnels and caves for stone mining during the Roman Empire.

19. Stone mining continued without restrictions until the 15th century, when the city streets, from under which many stones were pulled out, began to collapse and crumble.

18. At that time, no one knew how long the tunnels were or where they ran. So people began to draw a map of the labyrinth and its supporting shafts. It is still not fully mapped, but today we know that the total length of the catacombs is approximately 322 kilometers in length.

17. In the 18th century, Paris faced the problem of overcrowded cemeteries. Plague and other epidemics devastated the city's population, and there was no longer enough space to bury the remains of the dead.

16. As a solution to this unpleasant problem, the king ordered the remains of all Parisian cemeteries to be moved to the catacombs. It took years to achieve this.

15. Soon after the work of moving the remains was completed, some parts of the catacombs were opened to the public. These places, decorated with bones, became popular entertainment spots for the aristocracy. Many famous people, including Napoleon Bonaparte and Otto von Bismarck, visited the catacombs at that time.

14. Today, the catacombs contain the remains of more than 6 million (some sources even say 7 million) dead people.

13. People who explore the unexplored areas of the catacombs are known as “Cataphiles” (Les Cataphiles), which means “dungeon lovers”.

12. There are dozens of entrances to the catacombs, but most of them were walled up. Tourists can only enter through the official entrance at the Denfert Rochereau Palace.

11. The city center was undermined to such an extent that only a few large buildings were built here.

10. Some of the bonework is almost artistic in nature, such as the heart-shaped stonework in one of the walls formed by skulls embedded in surrounding tibias.

9. During World War II, the tunnel system was also used by soldiers. German soldiers, for example, installed an underground bunker in the catacombs beneath the Lycée Montaigne, a high school in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.

8. Walking past so many human remains can leave a lasting impression. Some tourists even claim that they felt like the skulls were actually looking at them.

7. Over the years, many people have gotten lost and died in the catacombs. One of the most famous stories is that of a man named Philibert Aspairt, who got lost in the catacombs in 1793 and was found dead 11 years later. Unfortunately, when Philibert was discovered, not much remained of him: only a skeleton holding a set of keys. But perhaps the saddest part of the story is the fact that he was only a few meters from the exit. He was buried on the spot where he was found, and cataphiles come to his grave to pay their respects.

6. Since most of the catacombs lie approximately 30 meters below the surface, lower than the Parisian metro, the temperature does not vary throughout the year. It is always approximately 12 degrees Celsius.

5. In 2009, due to acts of vandalism and theft of some skulls, the catacombs were closed from October to December.

4. In recent years, the catacombs have also become a haven for secret, illegal underground organizations. Consequently, police patrols began to guard the area.

3. As you walk through the catacombs, you will notice that the only bones that are visible are the bones of the arms, legs and skull. Some other bones, more randomly shaped, were used to create supporting walls in the destroyed and damaged parts of the catacombs.

2. Seeing so many human skulls, you can't help but wonder about the identities of these people. Who are they? What did they look like? How did they die?

1. The 45-minute tour may not seem long, but after spending time among the dead, most tourists are glad to see daylight again.

Thrill-seekers will definitely include the catacombs of Paris in their program of exploring interesting places in order to tickle their nerves while plunging into the mysterious atmosphere of the past.

If you are not afraid of ghosts and graves, go down into the dungeon to come into contact with the otherworldly, feel the breath and smell of death, look into the eyes of those who long ago crossed to the other side of the River Styx and unraveled the mystery of the afterlife.

You can buy skip-the-line tickets to the Catacombs of Paris

In the beginning there were stones

The underground city of the dead appeared at the end of the 18th century, but it all began much earlier and rather prosaically - with the extraction of stone. Until the 10th century, development was carried out on the left bank of the Seine, then it spread to the right bank. Until the end of the century, the stone was mined on the surface, but its reserves began to deplete, and it was decided to go deeper underground.

Louis XI showed generosity and gave away the territories adjacent to the castle of Vauvert for the sake of cutting down limestone. In the center, where the Luxembourg Gardens now lie, the first underground work began.

Further, new shafts began to diverge in rays, and walking along the streets of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Vaugirard, Saint-Jacques and Gobelin, as well as along the Val-de-Grâce hospital, remember that a few meters below you lurks another one, hidden from a curious part of Paris.

When large voids began to form, useful uses began to be found for them. These turned out to be excellent cellars, and therefore in 1259 the monks, whose monasteries were located in close proximity to the empty mines, turned them into wine cellars.

But the city grew, and by the 17th century its borders crossed with quarries. The suburb of Saint-Victor, which now connects the eastern periphery from Rue des Ecoles to Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire; as well as the Rue Saint-Jacques and the territory of Saint-Germain-de-Paris have become the most treacherous zones, actually hanging over the abyss.

When the threat of collapses could no longer be ignored, Louis XVI, in the spring of 1777, ordered the organization of the General Inspectorate to take a closer look at the quarries. It still works today, and its main task is to strengthen the mines in order to delay and prevent their destruction, which has recently become a major problem due to the underground currents of the Seine, which persistently flood the tomb.

Unfortunately, the engineering thought of modern inspection does not go further than concrete, which is simply used to fill problematic niches. Thus, the gypsum quarries of northern Paris are buried and lost forever, and meanwhile the water finds other loopholes for itself.

Cemetery stories

The Church has always been sensitive to the observance of its own interests, and therefore in every possible way welcomed burials on the lands adjacent to it. A place in the cemetery and funeral services were one of the types of income, and given the high mortality rate, it was a pretty big jackpot.

Judge for yourself: unsanitary conditions; medicine is at a rudimentary level, and even that is more punitive than healing; the bubonic plague of 1418 alone yielded a harvest of 50,000 corpses. And if there was a period of too long abstinence, it was always possible to organize St. Bartholomew's Night, which happened in 1572, bringing more than 30,000 dead to church cemeteries.

The Cemetery of the Innocents served 19 churches, operating since the 11th century, and one can only imagine the density of its “population”. By the 18th century, each grave sometimes contained 1,500 bodies from different periods of time.

Such mass graves went 10 meters deep, and the top layer of earth did not exceed 2 meters. At 7,000 sq. m, the total number of bodies was more than two million, and naturally, the situation soon got out of control - miasma filled Paris, infections flared up with renewed vigor, even wine and milk could not stand it, starting to turn sour.

In addition, the cemetery has become a favorite place for dubious individuals: homeless people, robbers and even witches and sorcerers.

The first settlers of the ossuary

The Church defended its possessions for a long time, but was forced to obey the decree of the Parisian parliament, which in 1763 prohibited further burials in the city. Yet the cemetery existed until 1780, when the wall separating it collapsed, filling the basements of nearby houses with sewage, swamp and the remains of the dead.

This event marked the beginning of a new system - burials in the residential area were strictly prohibited, and the ashes from the graves were sent to a depth of 17.5 meters into the inactive Tomb-Isoire quarries. It took more than a year to collect, disinfect and arrange the bones in their new home.

When the cemetery of the Innocents was dealt with, another 17 large and 300 small graveyards lined up.

The city's orderlies worked at night, contributing to the birth of legends with a touch of mysticism. This is how the catacombs appeared near Paris, where tourists today strive to get to, courageously standing in long lines at the pavilion near the Danfer-Rochereau metro station. As soon as you see the lion of the famous sculptor Bartholdi, you are at your destination.

Walk in the city of the dead

Starting your descent into the dungeon, you will walk 130 steps, going 20 meters deep along a spiral staircase, and feeling a gradual decrease in temperature (at the bottom it is constantly +14).

Below you will find yourself in the threshold of the kingdom of spirits, but to the crypt itself you still have to walk along a narrow long corridor, which constantly branches off, inviting you to turn right or left. But you need to follow your group without leaving the tourist area, so that the police team does not fine you at least 60 euros.

This police force was created specifically for the catacombs back in 1955. And not in vain, since before the dungeon was turned into a museum, many people were lost in its labyrinths. The watchman Philibert Asper, who worked at the Val-de-Grâce temple in 1793, decided to profit from the wine stored in the cellars.

It is unknown whether he found the desired drink or not, but he definitely lost his way out of the tricky interweaving of corridors. The remains of the poor man were found 11 years later, and scraps of clothing and a bunch of keys became his identification.

After passing several halls, you find yourself in a crypt, on the sides of which, like guards, stand black and white columns, reminiscent of a monastic robe, and on the beam between them you can read: “Stop! This is the Empire of Death". At this point, another quote always comes to mind: “Abandon hope, everyone who enters here!”.

Such warnings only encourage us to continue to look at the Catacombs of Paris, despite other signs warning about the perishability of existence.

Moving further, you involuntarily become imbued with the atmosphere reigning inside, listening to the uniform rustling of gravel under your feet, lonely drops somewhere in the distance. The dim yellowish lighting and empty eye sockets of six million local inhabitants make one think about death in all its forms.

But once upon a time, all these skulls and bones were living people who dreamed, loved, cried, were afraid, suffered, made plans, regretted something, or rejoiced, laughed.

In the photo, the Catacombs of Paris convey only a small part of the emotions that a person experiences when descending into the necropolis. Just imagine - it occupies about 11,000 sq. meters in area, and the length of the tunnels is up to 300 km.

It is impossible to go around and serve such an area, and therefore for visits they have improved the route, which occupies 1.7 km, which is also a lot. Her examination usually takes about 45 minutes.

They say that “wild” places are completely strewn with bones in a chaotic order, and no one cares about them. In silence, peace and darkness, the Parisians who lived in distant times, having finished their earthly vale, rest. What thoughts, fears and aspirations did they experience during their lifetime?

Looking at them, you want to see their real faces. Who knows, perhaps you are peering into the eye sockets of the poet Charles Perrault, the most powerful and wealthy man of his era - Nicolas Fouquet, the famous revolutionary Maximilian Robespierre or Louis Antoine de Saint-Just. Perhaps Blaise Pascal, a philosopher, mathematician, great writer, physicist and mechanic, is looking at you from behind the screen of the other world.

Many more famous personalities found peace in the city of the dead. But where those who were once worshiped by all of France and even the world is impossible to determine, since their bones have long been mixed with others, whose nameless ashes are laid in even rows in endless corridors along damp walls.

And the living find temporary refuge here

At different times, the Paris catacombs served not only as a tomb for the dead, but the living also found practical use for them. Thus, during the Second World War there was a secret Nazi bunker located here. But the most striking thing is that their neighbors were the center of the French Resistance, which was only 500 meters away.

At one time, Bonaparte Napoleon also liked to receive high-ranking guests in that part of the gallery where lighting was provided. During the Cold War, the threat of nuclear bombing loomed over the world, and in this case, bomb shelters were equipped in the catacombs.

Since the underground always maintains the same temperature and humidity, it is an ideal climate for growing champignons - a favorite product of French cuisine.

Supernatural of the Parisian catacombs

It's time to find out some horrors about the catacombs of Paris, which invariably had to be born during the history of their existence. Many consider it incredible that the unfortunate people who got lost in numerous labyrinths were never found.

Of course, it is difficult for the uninitiated to navigate such a dark place, but if they died, where did the bodies go?

Montsouris Park is located in the south of Paris. But it is known not only for its nickname “Mouse Mountain”, a memorial sign of the Parisian meridian made of stone, a large territory, and a picturesque pond.

They say that from time to time a strange shadow is noticed in it, very fast and mysterious. Its habitat is underground galleries running under the park. The appearance of a shadow is always unexpected, accompanied by a corpse-like smell and terrible cold.

It is impossible to examine it, but only to catch it with peripheral vision, but this does not bode well. It is believed that this phantom is a harbinger of imminent death.

Also, if you believe the management and members of the Grand Opera troupe, the ghost of the opera is quite real. He has forever reserved box No. 5 of the first tier for himself, and tickets for spectators are never sold to it. When the show ends, he goes into the catacombs until next time.

Over the years, many cases of contact with mysterious phenomena have accumulated, which Parisians explain by the activity of the inhabitants of the underground city.

So, in March 1846, one of the newspapers described an unusual episode in the judicial chronicle section, which was never revealed. It said that at the construction site where old houses were being demolished to pave the new Rue Cujas, which would connect the Panthéon and the Sorbonne, strange things happened for several nights in a row.

This site belonged to the wood merchant Leribl, and next to it stood a lonely house, which became the target of the attack. As darkness fell, stones began to fall on the house, so large and with such power that no person could do such a thing.

The structure suffered significant damage: broken windows, damaged frames and mangled doors. A police patrol was sent to catch the criminal, and evil dogs were allowed into the yard at night, but this did not help. It was never possible to determine who was responsible for the vandalism, since the attacks stopped as suddenly as they began.

Mystics have the same opinion on this matter - construction work disturbed the souls of the dead from the catacombs, and they tried to drive away the troublemakers.

Each story excites the imagination and pushes adventurers into the Parisian catacombs for a dose of adrenaline. But adventurers are not attracted to “sleek” corridors; give them wild, untrodden places. Cataphiles and diggers get there through sewer manholes or subway tunnels, but not everyone manages to find the way back.

Catacombs of Paris on the map

This theme has more than once inspired writers, filmmakers and computer game creators to create their own stories with mysticism, secrets and adventures of heroes.

The catacombs of Paris are the most exotic part of history, giving the city a touch of mystery. Without a doubt, if you are not too impressionable, do not suffer from heart disease, and do not have breathing problems, you should see the final resting place of medieval Parisians, and perhaps you will learn some of their secrets.

Catacombs of Paris Video

The exact address: 1 avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy - 75014 Paris

Working hours: Tuesday - Sunday from 10:00 to 20:30 (ticket office closes at 19:30)

The catacombs are closed: On Mondays and some holidays May 1 and August 15

Photo gallery of the catacombs of Paris

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Catacombs of Paris

Parisian catacombs. Today, underground tunnels are a collection of caves with a total length of more than three hundred kilometers, which pass almost under the entire territory of the historical part of Paris.

The Catacombs of Paris as a source of building material

Paris is a city of museums with unique collections and priceless architectural masterpieces, but the French capital hides one of the most interesting attractions underground - Parisian catacombs. It is not known for certain in what century the development of catacombs - man-made caves used as quarries for extracting the stone necessary for the construction of the city - began. Today, the catacombs of Paris (underground tunnels) are a collection of caves with a total length of more than three hundred kilometers, which pass almost under the entire territory of the historical part of Paris.

Scientists have been able to establish that the first catacombs appeared under the territory of modern Paris back in antiquity. Afterwards, new buildings and palaces were built for the nobility and the French aristocracy, for which building stone was needed, and the length of the catacombs increased every year, every decade, every century.

Beginning in the 12th century, when the rapid growth of Paris began, the first limestone stone was mined in the area of ​​the modern Luxembourg Gardens. It was from the stones mined in this place that the most famous architectural monuments of the French capital were built. These include the royal palace of the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Sainte-Chapelle. In those years when the Parisian catacombs were being developed, there were no residential buildings above them - this territory was not part of Paris, subsequently the city grew, and new areas were built above the underground galleries.

Underground city of the dead

Centuries passed, and the purpose of the catacombs changed - they began to be used as an underground cemetery, gradually turning into a huge necropolis. According to historians, a much larger number of people found their final refuge in this necropolis than the population of modern Paris. It is believed that the underground necropolis contains the remains of more than 6 million Parisians, but in this case these figures are very approximate, and exact statistics cannot be reproduced exactly. Necropolis The Parisian catacombs were replenished and as a result of the reburial of remains from many of the city's medieval cemeteries, in 1785 the ashes of people who had previously been buried in the Cemetery of the Innocents were transferred here.

After this, the Parisian catacombs acquired a new, previously unused name - they began to be called City of Darkness. The walls and ceilings of underground galleries were lined with remains - bones and skulls - without taking into account the social status of the dead. The bones of workers, townspeople and aristocrats were tightly fitted to each other, and now they are a kind of decor for underground galleries, attracting numerous tourists. Visiting dungeons is associated with secrets and riddles, mysticism and mystery. Among the bones are the remains of two finance ministers of the era of Louis XIV - Fouquet, who was executed, and Colbert, who died at a later time; the ashes of Robespierre, Lavoisier, Danton, and Marat rest here. The world-famous storyteller Charles Perrault, as well as other French writers - Racine, Blaise Pascal, Rabelais, are also buried in the underground necropolis.

The magic of underground galleries

The underground galleries of the Parisian catacombs are located at a depth of more than 20 meters, and most tourists, going down and heading towards the ossuary shrouded in legends, do not even suspect it. Not far from the entrance to the dungeon you can still see the foundation of an ancient Arcuey aqueduct, which with full confidence can be called one of the attractions of Paris. On the vaults of the catacombs, traces of the work carried out here are still clearly visible; one can imagine how the workers separated pieces of stone with ancient, imperfect tools and draw conclusions about their hard work. On the walls of underground galleries you can still discern a “black line” - a special line carved into the rock, which was used as a landmark long before the advent of electricity. The Paris catacombs are now illuminated, making visiting them more convenient, safe and accessible for a large number of local residents. Considering the “black line”, you involuntarily compare it with the mythical “Ariadne’s thread” - the only way to get out of the ancient labyrinth.

After walking through narrow underground galleries, tourists find themselves in a wider part of the Parisian catacombs, called "studio"— it was here that the bulk of stone was mined for construction work. This part of the catacombs has been preserved since ancient times almost in its original form, and the narrow pillars supporting the arches of the man-made cave can still be seen. In the old days, the underground necropolis was richly decorated with sculptures and bas-reliefs, made as an exact copy of the decorations of the majestic palace of Port-Mahon, located on one of the Bolearic Islands. Unfortunately, neither time nor the “black archaeologists” who robbed the underground cemetery have spared the beautiful sculptures; at present, nothing remains of the sculptural compositions. Only bas-reliefs made by the skilled master Decure, a veteran of the army of the French King Louis XV, who later became one of the first workers of the specially created Main Inspectorate of Quarries, have survived to this day. And only these ancient bas-reliefs remind of the ancient decor of the Parisian catacombs.

Another interesting detail of the underground galleries is the signs at the intersections of the passages, which indicate the names of the streets located above the catacombs, under important public buildings and Catholic churches, and now you can see the lily carved on the walls of the galleries - the symbol of France and its kings. The first tablets in the galleries appeared in the second half of the 18th century, and the study of the catacombs was initiated by the French king Louis XVI. In those years, there were many entrances and exits to underground galleries in Paris, homeless people lived here, criminals took refuge, so the Parisian catacombs enjoyed a bad reputation for a long time.

The underground necropolis - ossuary is located under the modern streets d'Alembert, Allais, Avenue Rene-Coty and Rue Darais, and many tourists, leisurely strolling along these streets above, do not even suspect what is under them. During a fascinating excursion through the Parisian catacombs, tourists will see the ossuary itself and many other underground attractions - an ancient altar consecrated by servants of the Catholic Church, the crypt itself and a narrow tunnel specially laid to supply fresh air to the underground galleries. It still serves as a kind of ventilation.

The excursion route through the Parisian catacombs ends with a visit to unique inspector gallery, which is located under Rue Rémy-Dumoncel. The main attraction of this gallery is an underground well, with the help of which in the old days limestone was mined for the French capital, and the story of an experienced guide seems to take tourists several centuries ago, when the development of the Parisian catacombs was carried out.

Since 1814, the Parisian catacombs had another purpose - parts of them were used as wine cellars, breweries, warehouses, bars and cafes were set up in them, and the underground galleries became a common meeting place for many. At the same time, the length of the tourist route through the Parisian catacombs does not exceed one and a half kilometers, and the rest remains beyond the unknown.