When people think of Paris, France, they think of a classy city with cute shops, bakeries, and museums, basically the Paris “stereotype.” I am here to tell you about one not-so-classy, or cute, part of France: The Paris Catacombs.
A catacomb is basically an extra place to store corpses when there isn’t enough room above ground. For example, in the 1790s, the city’s cemeteries were overflowing with bodies and causing serious health problems. The water from wells was unsafe to drink, and diseases were spreading. So the solution to this problem was to put around 6–7 million people’s remains in underground parts of the city where minerals were extracted for construction. This was actually a great solution because the remains were stored in a cold, dark place to prevent the remains from rotting. This was also a good decision in terms of architecture because the bones in the ground kept the abandoned shafts stable, and kept the classy appearance of Paris sanitary, and monumental.
The Modern-Day Paris Catacombs: I am pretty sure that when the idea of the catacombs came up, it was not expected to be a tourist attraction. However, in modern-day Paris, they are. As someone who has been to the catacombs, I can tell you it was one of my favorite parts of my trip, because of all the stacks and designs made out of these bones, including crosses and other religious symbols like the Star of David. The catacombs are located 20 meters below the city’s legendary monuments and buildings and are over 280 kilometers (174 miles) beneath the city of Paris. However, only a small portion of the catacombs is open to the public, and the part that is open is only about 1.7 kilometers long. As I said earlier, the catacombs store over 6 million corpses, and as that may not seem like a lot, that is basically if everyone in Washington state were to die right now and be buried underground. Additionally, bones take up a lot of space, and people in the 1790s had to carry all of these bones downstairs and through pathways, by hand.
Catacombs Around the World: Catacombs are found around the world, not just in Paris. Some other countries with catacombs include Italy, Austria, Egypt, America, and the country with the biggest catacombs: Ukraine. In Odessa, Ukraine, you will find the world’s largest set of catacombs, coming in at a whopping 1,600 miles long, and storing millions of people’s bones from Ukraine and surrounding countries.
Even though the catacombs may be considered “gross” or “strange,” they are actually an important part of countries’ cultures and beliefs. For example, the catacombs hold a very interesting place in the romantic tradition about how early Christianity developed. It’s often been suggested that these were great hiding places, and the Christians would go down in the catacombs to worship during periods of persecution.
All in all, it is important to remember that the Catacombs of Paris play a big role in Paris’ culture and attractions.
