Paris Catacombs

After weeks of attempting to go to the Paris Catacombs, I finally took myself one Sunday and stood in the queue from 10am to 11am in the cold. All I can say is thank goodness the wait was worth it!! It costs just four euros to get in and the whole tour takes around 45 minutes to one hour, depending on how long you take to wander around the stacks and stacks of human remains. Yep, that's right- if you were previously unsure on the nature of the Catacombs of Paris (I've had many baffled questions asking me what they are), they are an expanse of old mines which have been filled with the bones of six million people.

I didn't really know what to expect from this. I had read many articles about 'undiscovered Paris' where they would quote the Catacombs as something which people often miss, despite their interesting history. I'm still a bit torn on whether I should say this, but I came out having really enjoyed the experience, in a kind of macabre, really intrigued sort of way. It was one of those things which you really have to force yourself to understand what you're seeing, without seeing it through the detached and desensitised eyes of people living in the 21st century. 

Formerly a quarry, mining limestone for building the likes of Notre Dame and the Louvre, in 1786 the underground maze became an ossuary when the transfer of bones from the Cimetière des Innocents began. Gradually, the bones from other graveyards over Paris were also transferred, and those killed during the French revolution were also placed directly into the Catacombs.

There is such a rich and interesting history behind the Catacombs, it seems such a shame that so many people never experience this rather different aspect to Paris. But I truly would recommend doing so, whether you are being a tourist for the weekend, or you've lived here for some time. I loved it because it was so interesting, and a little bit surreal. I stared at the bones of six million people, all of whom had lives and were individuals centuries ago, but now who have been reduced to part of a display of human remains. Incredible.

To get to the ossuary, you're taken through the old tunnels made for quarrying.

Just a tiny section of the millions of piled bones

The Catacombs were filled with barred ways, all part of the maze which made up the old quarry