THE CATACOMBS OF PARIS

One day my family and I took the metro to visit a vast depository of bones underneath a particular section of Paris known as the catacombs.  There is an area deep below which is open to the public called the Denfert Rochereau Ossuary.

We bought tickets and started to descend the small spiral staircase and I have to tell you here, I kept thinking that at some point I would have to ascend all these steps after seeing this underground cemetery.

The cemeteries of Paris were overcrowded and the government decided it would empty the cemeteries of its dead and relocate the bones here.  It took many years to complete this relocation of it's former citizens to the tunnels that were once used to quarry limestone.  It opened to the public around 1867.

After walking a while in the dark and very damp tunnels with not very much headroom, especially if you were over six foot or so tall, we came upon the section which was marked in stone as the area of the remains of the dead.  This is where about six million former Parisians now rest.

The femurs and tibias are all neatly lined up and piled on one another and as you can see in the photo to the left, with a pattern that was formed in the middle with skulls.  I was amazed at how after so long they would still remain.  I always thought that after one hundred years or so that nothing was left.  This seems not to be the case here. The piles of bones are stacked so neatly and rise to about five feet high.  I saw bones and skulls arranged in hearts or crosses.  There would be a wall of bones with the skulls sitting up on top and various other shapes.  There is a picture below which shows an arrangement in a large wine barrel shape.

There were signs as you walked along indicating the name, location and date of the cemetery from which the bones were exhumed and relocated here. I read that a priest would accompany a tip cart draped in black in the evening while singing or chanting in a very reverent manner.  This is how they would be moved and relocated here.

At points along the way, which was about an hour or so, you would hear the dripping of water, or need to put up your hood so as not to get dripped on,  and every so often come upon some puddles or wet ground.  I had to watch my footing the entire time as it would constantly change to rise or fall and was uneven. The lighting was quite dim to dark in spots.

     I was glad to have had the opportunity to visit and see this for myself.  The staircase was before me and I started to climb up the small winding staircase.  Thank goodness there was a seat at the top on which to rest a moment.  I turned around and saw over my shoulder a defibrillator on the wall and an employee in a little area next to it.  I was terribly grateful that I had no need of it and emerged once again above ground and well into the sunlight.

We started to look for a place to have lunch when I turned around and noticed that my son-in-law was having a cigar.  I think he was happy as well to have risen once again above ground.










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