Catacombs of Paris

Creepy, right?

On Sunday, me and my Belgian friends decided to go see the infamous Catacombs of Paris! I've heard about the Catacombs so many times, but this was the first time I've seen them. I have to say I was quite impressed by it all- the way the bones were arranged, the various inscriptions about the idea of death- it's surprising that it's not as big of a tourist attraction as other sites in Paris.

We had to descend about 20 meters to get to the former mines/ossuary, and we ended up walking around these dark, tiny tunnels beneath both the Paris Metro lines and the sewage systems. I've heard stories that people have gotten lost down there for days because they took a wrong turn through one of the passageways. I don't know if those stories are actually true, but it could definitely happen if the tunnels weren't marked off as clearly as they were when I went. Even with the single path we took while we where inside, it was a long way to go, so I can't imagine being lost down there. With all those bones. Creepy...

We had to walk through the mines to get to the ossuary, and when we finally did we saw this:

Stop!
Here lies the empire of death
(loosely translated)

It was the entrance to see all the bones...

...and my friends thought the sign was so 'rock and roll', so I had to capture it on film, ha ha! :)




Bones bones bones! They were arranged this way in all the passageways- with the bones stacked on top of each other and the skulls in between.



Here's a video from when we were walking through some of it. It was really dark so you might not see much, but there are some pretty good angles with the lines of skulls.



There were these plaques all over too, and most of them were engraved with poems or prose by famous literary authors like Voltaire and Homer. And of course they all pertain to the idea of death- warnings about it, advice on how to live a better life, the importance of respecting the living and the dead, etc.



Like I said earlier, it seems to me that the Catacombs are underrated as a tourist attraction. This was the very anonymous exit (there were literally no signs indicating what it was), and the entrance wasn't much better- there was a tiny sign by a tiny door. I just think the Catacombs deserve more credit than that.

So that was my Sunday afternoon... walking through an underground crypt, ha ha!!

Bisous XOXO