Parisian catacombs - a dungeon of bones. Parisian catacombs: photos and reviews of tourists

August 29th, 2013

Under pavements Paris hundreds of kilometers of galleries stretch. In ancient times, they served as quarries, from where later, in the Middle Ages, limestone and gypsum were mined for the construction of the city. These underground tunnels have a rich history.

Limestone and gypsum have been mined on the banks of the Parisian Seine since antiquity. And by the 12th century, the development of underground resources was one of the most important areas of the economy. The fact is that new fashion trends required completely different architectural solutions. In just a few centuries, dozens of abbeys, cathedrals, churches, castles were erected in Paris, including the famous Louvre palace complex and Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral.

By the 15th century, developments were already taking place at two levels. It turned out that the network of quarries now had a second floor, located much lower. Near the exits, special wells equipped with winches were installed. It was they who raised the huge stone blocks to the surface. If in the 12th century mining was carried out on the outskirts of the city, then by the 17th century the territories allotted for quarries had increased so much that almost all of Paris was literally above the void.

All this led to the fact that collapses of underground galleries became more frequent. In the early 18th century, the long underground corridors began to be fortified, and the mining of gypsum and limestone was banned. Today, a network of catacombs is located under the entire territory of Paris. The total length of the underground galleries is about 300 kilometers, but most of them are located on the left bank of the Seine.

However, the former Parisian quarries, after the cessation of further limestone mining, found a new use. In 1763, the Parliament of Paris decided to transfer all cemeteries located within the fortress wall to the catacombs. The state was driven to this by the catastrophic overcrowding of the final resting places. Sometimes 1,500 people were buried in the graves, and huge mounds towered above the sidewalks at a height of up to 6 meters. In addition, robbers, sorcerers and other dangerous people massively settled in cemeteries.

In addition, in 1780, the wall that separated the cemetery of the Innocents from the residential buildings on the neighboring rue de la Lingerie collapsed. The basements of houses were filled with the remains of the dead mixed with sewage. And then the Parisian authorities decided to move the burials to the former quarries of Tomb Issoire outside the city limits.

The underground necropolis was opened to visitors. Although it was supposed to bury here only ancient bones from the cemetery of the Innocents, during the years of revolutions, many bodies of the dead and executed were thrown into the catacombs. Remains that had previously rested in other city cemeteries were also reburied here. As a rule, this was due to the changing political situation. So the relics of the ministers of Louis XIV - Colbert and Fouquet, the leaders of the revolution Danton, Lavoisier, Robespierre and Marat found themselves in the catacombs. Founded shelter in the former quarries and famous French writers - Francois Rabelais, Charles Perrault, Jacques Racine, physicist Blaise Pascal, whose remains were transferred here from closed city cemeteries ...

During the entire existence of the Parisian catacombs, there have been many inexplicable mysterious cases. One of them was described in the Gazette de Tribuno in the section of the court chronicle of March 2, 1846. The note stated: “Not far from the site of the demolition of old buildings, where a new street connecting the Sorbonne and the Panthéon (Rue Cujas) will soon pass, there is the construction site of a certain timber merchant named Lerible. The site is bordered by a residential building, standing aside from other buildings. Every night a real stone rain falls on it. Moreover, the stones are so large, and an unknown hand throws them with such force that they cause visible damage to the building - windows are broken, window frames are broken, doors and walls are broken, as if the house suffered a siege. It is clearly not possible for an ordinary person to do this. A police patrol was set up at the merchant's house, chain dogs were released at the construction site for the night, but it was not possible to establish the identity of the destroyer. Mystics assured: the whole thing is in the disturbed peace of the dead from the catacombs. However, it was not possible to test this theory - the mysterious rockfalls stopped as suddenly as they began.

Do you remember The Phantom of the Opera?

“Later it became known that Eric just found this secret corridor, and for a long time only he knew about its existence. This passage was dug during the time of the Paris Commune, so that the jailers could take their prisoners directly to the casemates equipped in the cellars, because the Communards took over the building shortly after March 18, 1871 and set up a platform at the top for launching balloons that spread their inflammatory proclamations, and at the very bottom they made a state prison.

- St. Petersburg: Red Fish TID Amphora, 2004.

Charles Garnier, who won the competition for the best project of the opera house, did not suspect that the construction would take almost fifteen years: having begun during the time of the empire, it would end already under the republic. He did not even imagine those events that would happen to survive his offspring.

Opera under construction.

In the yard in 1861. A place for construction has been determined. And the first task: a solid, deeply laid foundation, capable of withstanding the frame structure of the stage weighing 10,000 tons and lowered 15 meters underground. In addition, water should not have penetrated into the basement, since theatrical props were going to be stored there. They began to dig a pit, and from the second of March to the thirteenth of October, eight steam engines pumped out water around the clock - groundwater ran from the Place de la République to the Palais de Chaillot, fed by streams that flowed into the Seine. To make sure the cellars are safe, Garnier decides to build double walls.

At the very beginning of construction, when there was still nothing but this dungeon, a new worker came to the construction site, and, carefully examining the dungeon, enthusiastically shared with Garnier, not knowing who he was: “How beautiful! Just like a prison!" Garnier wondered what kind of life this guy should have had if prison was a model of beauty for him. The words of the worker, as it turned out later, were prophetic.

The unfinished opera in 1896

« So, the viscount and I... turned the stone and jumped into Eric's dwelling, which he had built between the double walls of the theater's foundation. (By the way, Eric was one of the first masonry masters of Charles Garnier, the architect of the Opera, and continued to work secretly, alone, when construction was officially suspended for the period of the war, the siege of Paris and the Commune.)»

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux [trans. from fr. V. Novikov].
- St. Petersburg: Red Fish TID Amphora, 2004

On July 19, 1870, France declared war on Prussia. Bismarck's troops inflicted defeat after defeat on the French army, and already in September Paris was under siege. There could be no talk of any continuation of the construction. The unfinished building of the Opera was located not far from Place Vendôme - the theater of operations, and the troops took advantage of the huge premises of the future theater. Food depots were set up here, supplying provisions to military and civilians, and there was also a field hospital and an ammunition depot. In addition, apparently, an air defense complex (or a platform for balloons) was located on the roof.

In January 1871, the siege of Paris was lifted. Charles Garnier, due to the deprivations of the state of siege, became seriously ill and left for Liguria in March to receive medical treatment. Instead of himself, he left an assistant, Louis Luve ( Louis Louvet), who regularly informed Garnier about the state of affairs at the Opéra.

The architect left Paris on time, because at the same time unrest began in the city, resulting in a revolution. The leaders of the Commune planned to replace Garnier with another architect, but did not have time - a 130,000-strong army, led by the future President of France, Marshal MacMahon, approached Paris.

Commune. Battle in the catacombs. Photo from modern. exposition of the catacombs.

Perhaps this is what the passage of the Communards looked like. Photo from the catacombs, see source.

There are no direct indications of this, but it is likely that in the Opera, under the ground, the Communards set up a prison, the basements looked too tempting. It is known that at the end of the Commune in 1871, executions of monarchists were carried out in the catacombs of Paris. Who knows, maybe it was just under the Grand Opera.

The Paris catacombs are generally quite a well-known place - it's no joke, their length is over 300 kilometers! (A small part of the tunnels is officially open to visitors). At the same time, the catacombs occupy only one eight hundredth of all the underground structures of modern Paris!

In 1809, the catacombs were given a modern look: corridors full of even rows of bones and skulls to impress visitors as much as possible. About six million Parisians are buried here - almost three times the current population of the city. The latest burials belong to the era of the French Revolution, the earliest - to the Merovingian era, they are more than 1200 years old. The catacombs were built in former limestone quarries, the local stone was used by the ancient Romans, Notre Dame and the Louvre were built from these stones.

Republican troops ousted the Communards from the Opera on May 23, and already on May 28 the Commune ceased to exist. And in June, Charles Garnier returned to Paris. On September 30, 1871, construction work in the theater resumed, and on January 5, 1875, the grand opening took place.

“Soon, I began to inspire him with such confidence that he took me for a walk on the shore of the lake - he jokingly called it Avernsky - and we rode in a boat on its leaden waters.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux [trans. from fr. V. Novikov].
- St. Petersburg: Red Fish TID Amphora, 2004.

Diver in a tank

There is no lake under the theater building. There is a water tank 55 meters long and 3.5 meters deep. Catfish live in it, fed by the Opera staff. You can't swim in the tank on a boat- and was never possible due to too low ceilings. Only diving enthusiasts can get into it.

Cellars are electrified and well lit according to safety requirements. However… nevertheless, the Parisian network of tunnels is so extensive and varied that it leaves room for the imagination. And who said that by giving free rein to the imagination and inventing an underground lake, Gaston Leroux deceived us in the main thing - in the reality of Eric. The best way to hide a secret in plain sight is in the opening lines of the novel, in which the author claims that the Phantom of the Opera actually existed.

Storage tank

And in November 2012, the French TV channel "TF1" showed a new five-minute report dedicated to the underground lake of the Grand Opera. This report includes rare footage of an underground reservoir, tells about its history and structure, about how and why it is now used ... Of course, there was also a mention of the Phantom of the Opera. Excerpts from this reportage were shown by news channels in other countries, including in Russia - we were told about it by Channel One.

During the Second World War, a bunker was equipped in one of the quarries, where the secret headquarters of the invaders was located, and just 500 meters from it - the headquarters of the leaders of the Resistance movement. During the Cold War, bomb shelters were also placed there, where it was supposed to evacuate Parisians in the event of a nuclear attack.

Today, the catacombs are one of the most popular places for excursions, but only a small part of them is open for viewing. The entrance is located on Place Denfert Rochereau. On the walls of the galleries there are signs with the names of the streets passing above. Under the most significant buildings, images of a lily flower, a symbol of the French monarchy, were previously carved. But after the revolution, most of these drawings were destroyed.

On either side of the long tunnels lie endless rows of human bones topped with skulls. Since the air here is dry, the remains are not too decomposable. The rest are said to be controlled by a special underground police force. There are rumors that these secret tunnels are haunted by ghosts, and even the living dead.

One of the legends about the Parisian catacombs tells of a fantastic creature that lives in the galleries under the Montsouris park. They say that it has amazing mobility, but it moves only in the dark. In 1777, the Parisians often encountered him, and these meetings, as a rule, foreshadowed the death or loss of someone close.
Another legend is connected with the disappearance of people without a trace. So, in 1792, the caretaker of the Val-de-Grâce church, taking advantage of the revolutionary confusion, got into the habit of making raids for bottles of wine stored in a dungeon under the nearby abbey. One day he went for another "catch" and never returned. Only 11 years later, his skeleton was found in the dungeon ...

Rumor has it that in our days, numerous sects have chosen the catacombs for their rituals. In addition, the regulars of these places are the so-called catafils (people who are passionate about the history of underground Paris) and "underground tourists".

Another mystical dungeon of Paris lies under the Grand Opera. The building has a complicated history. The construction of the theater almost failed due to groundwater accumulating under the foundation. Because of this, they could not lay the facade in any way. In the end, the architect Charles Garnier came up with a way out - to fence off the basement with a double wall. It was in it that the writer Gaston Leroux, the author of the famous novel The Phantom of the Paris Opera, placed his fictional “torture room”, based on which several films and one musical were subsequently staged ... In 1871, the Communards were executed in the local cellars, and a year later there was a terrible fire …

The Phantom at the Grand Opera is by no means an author's fiction. According to legend, a mysterious ghost still appears in one of the lodges to this day. Moreover, in the contracts of directors of the opera house there is always a clause prohibiting the spectators from renting box No. 5 in the first tier to the audience.

Once, in 1896, Faust was given at the opera. When the actress, prima donna Karon, who played the role of Margarita, uttered a line: “Oh, silence! Oh happiness! An impenetrable secret! - a massive chandelier made of bronze and crystal suddenly fell from the ceiling. For some unknown reason, one of the counterweights that supported this colossus broke off. The seven-ton building collapsed on the heads of the spectators. Many were injured, but by some lucky chance, only one concierge died ... In the incident, everyone saw a certain mystical sign. Until now, he is attributed to the antics of the Phantom of the Opera.

What is an ossuary?

OSSUARY (from lat. os, genus p. ossis - bone), a receptacle for ashes, ashes, bone remains remaining after cremation. Corpse burning was widely practiced among the Turkic and Middle Eastern peoples in various historical periods as the main action in preparing the deceased for burial, but ossuaries were especially widespread among the Zoroastrians. In the ossuary, the ashes were collected from the cooled funeral pyre.

The ossuaries themselves, mostly clay (also stone or alabaster), had the shape of a vessel covered with a lid, on which the “face” of the deceased was sometimes symbolically depicted in sculpture or relief. Sometimes on the walls of the vessel, signatures of a memorial benevolent character were scratched. They could be made in the form of a chest, a box of rectangular or square shape. On the walls and on the lid, stone, tile, and other materials could be inlaid. Ossuaries were either collected in family burial vaults or buried in the ground.

And now let's walk through the catacombs with a blogger Samnamos

Diagram of the catacombs of the GRS system. The initial origin of the workings is dated 1260. In connection with frequent landslides in 1813, a decree was issued to prohibit the further development of the system.

2. Karst map of underground workings throughout Paris. In 1777, due to numerous failures in the south of the city, the General Inspectorate of Quarries was established by decree of King Louis XVI, the task of which was to draw up a plan for all quarries and strengthen them. It was the first of its kind. structure in the world. For a century, dozens of underground workers and engineers, even during the Revolutions, fortified, filled and mapped the numerous galleries and chambers of the former quarries.

3. We go down a very narrow spiral staircase to the mark of -10 m. There is a small gallery and another entry to the mark of ~ minus 25 meters.

4. The first impression is a little ordinary. I expected to see something similar to systems near Moscow. Everything is much more civilized.

5. Some basements of the houses above are connected to the system.

6. Similar corridors sprawled for tens of meters to various entrances, gradually merging into one channel (Christmas tree shape)

7. One of the drifts with access to the basement.

8. Often masonry is not hewn

9. Previously, there was a limestone working chamber at this place, which was completely covered during fortification work and laid with a stone from the outside.

10. From a different angle. In the background, a door leading to a ventilation shaft connected to the subway is visible, judging by the sound of trains passing somewhere nearby.

The Parisian catacombs, even with a big stretch, can hardly be called some kind of hallmark of the city. Few people know about them, but if you want to find yourself in a completely unusual, very mysterious and even a little frightening place, then you should certainly like it here.

In fact, the Parisian catacombs are a rather extensive network of winding underground tunnels that were formed in the process of limestone mining. And this building material was vital for the construction of numerous palaces and cathedrals in Paris.

In general, it can be said about the Parisian catacombs that - the total length of all tunnels and caves is approximately from 190 to 300 kilometers, their total area exactly exceeds 11 thousand square meters. Then, according to preliminary data, about 6 million people were buried here. Not all catacombs are open for tourist visits - only 2.5 kilometers of them, and in total about 160 thousand people visit them annually.

The journey to the famous Parisian catacombs begins in a small pavilion, which is located near the Denfert-Rochereau metro station. You will need to navigate the sculpture of a lion, the creator of which is the author of the famous Statue of Liberty - Frederic Bartholdi. The more precise address is 1, avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy. Open for visits daily, except Mondays from 10 am to 5 pm. For an entrance ticket you will have to pay from 8 to 10 euros, while children under 14 years old are free. You can visit the catacombs only as part of an excursion, independent visits are not allowed here.

In what exact century underground mining began, scientists still have not yet established, it is only known that by the 17th century, part of many residential areas of the city of Paris was located above the catacombs. At that time, the city was growing strongly and there was a great danger of collapses. In the second half of the 18th century, the ruling King Louis XVIII even issued a special decree for the purpose of detailed study and inspection of the quarries. As a result of the work carried out, special reinforcing structures were installed to prevent the destruction of underground tunnels.

Speaking of the Parisian catacombs, one should not forget about the Ossuary, which is considered one of the main components of this network of tunnels. The fact is that the history of this place began in the distant XI century from the cemetery of the Innocents. In those days, people who died from the bubonic plague and as a result of the massacre on St. Bartholomew's night were buried here. Then about 2 million people were buried here. Naturally, the necropolis became a breeding ground for a deadly infection, and therefore burials in the city were banned in 1763.

Then the remains began to be disinfected, taken out and stored in the Tomb-Isoire quarry, already abandoned at that time, located at a depth of 17 meters. Then the bones and skulls were simply stacked on top of each other, so the result was a whole wall. And already in 1768, the Ossuary was founded in the catacombs of Paris. At that time, it consisted of 780 meters of galleries, which were arranged in a kind of circle. This place with the remains of dead people received the unspoken name of the City of Darkness. During the Second World War, the Parisian catacombs were widely used by members of the liberation movement, they hid here from the invaders.

Once inside the dungeon, you can see not only a lot of bones and skulls, but also various monuments with exhibits, and on the walls there are drawings and very distinct traces of the old work of masons. On the walls of the underground gallery, you can also see the "black line", which served as a reference line for the workers of that time. Back then, there was no concept of electricity.

After you pass through the labyrinth, you will find yourself in the "atelier" - a wide part of the catacombs, preserved almost in its original form. Centuries ago, the necropolis was widely decorated with bas-reliefs and sculptures, but unfortunately many of them have not survived to our times. And you will complete your route in the inspection gallery.

a network of artificial underground tunnels near Paris, in which the remains of about 6 million people are buried. A small part of them is open to the public and a museum is organized there, but basically they are closed from tourists and are regularly patrolled by the police, since there are quite a lot of people who want to get there.

The Paris catacombs are far from being its most famous attraction, and not many tourists know that a huge number of human remains lie right under them. They say that from them you can get to any point in Paris, which is not surprising - the length of the catacombs reaches 300 km.

These catacombs are former quarries, which, due to the expansion of Paris during the Renaissance, ended up within the city. Even then, a problem arose - part of the city actually hung over the pit, which at any moment could fail. By decree of the king, a special service was founded, which was engaged in strengthening the catacombs. This service still exists today.

But where did so many remains come from in the quarries? One of the traditions of Christianity is the burial of the dead near the church. Therefore, many cemeteries were located almost in the center of the city. The plague epidemic, St. Bartholomew's night provided the cemeteries of Paris with a huge number of remains, which were already overflowing - the remains of 1,500 people could lie in one grave.

As a result, cemeteries turned into fetid wastelands, which were breeding grounds for diseases. This forced in 1763 to adopt a decree banning burials within the city. A little later, in 1780, the wall that separated the cemetery from the residential area of ​​Paris collapsed, and the basements of the houses were filled with remains and sewage. This was the last straw - it was decided to transfer all the remains from the cemeteries to the underground Parisian catacombs.

The remains of many famous personalities are stored in the catacombs: Charles Perot, Pascal, Lavoisier, Francois Rabelais, Nicolas Fouquet and others.

A small part is equipped for tourists - about 2.5 km of the catacombs. You can only visit the museum and not go down into the Parisian catacombs themselves. The rest is closed to visitors and is constantly patrolled by police units - a fine of 60 euros is imposed for illegal entry. A professional private guide will be able to fully organize unforgettable excursions in Paris. A license from the Ministry of Tourism provides many benefits, including skip-the-line entry to national museums. With it, you will learn many intriguing secrets of the French capital.

Information for tourists:

Working mode: The Paris Catacombs are open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00 (the box office closes at 16:00).

Ticket price: 7 euros.

When I first arrived in Paris, I dreamed of going to the catacombs (Catacombes de Paris), but somehow it didn’t work out: sometimes there was no time, then my friends and I had another museum or event planned. You won't get bored in Paris. There is always something to do here. Only after two months of my stay there, my friend and I went to the appointed place. Moreover, independent visits to the catacombs are prohibited: entry is possible only by an organized group.

The school I attended (it was a private school for international students) organized excursions and various cultural and other activities for their students. Among them was an excursion to the Catacombs. We decided to go with her, as we knew the guide - a very nice woman, with whom we went to other similar events. She told interesting stories, which means a lot to people in this profession.

It seemed to us that we would get there quickly, since there are already few tourists in Paris in October, which means goodbye to giant queues at museums, exhibitions, etc. How wrong we were! Since a total of no more than 200 people can fit in the catacombs at the same time, they let people in in portions. Therefore, even in October there was a very long queue! Probably the biggest after the queues at Disneyland and Versailles, which I had to endure in Paris. We spent a good hour and a half in it before getting there. But it was worth it!

Start of inspection

The first thing you feel upon entering is cold. The temperature inside is only +14 ° C, and it feels even less. I was in an autumn raincoat and a thin jacket, and still I was cold. Please note that when visiting the catacombs, you go down underground, and the passages there are so narrow, in the ossuary itself (this is a building or a place for storing skeletonized remains) it is also low, so if you suffer from claustrophobia, I do not advise you to visit them at all.

The second is darkness. Despite the lanterns hanging everywhere, twilight reigns below, so it’s still hard to see, and it’s inconvenient to take pictures. Only with the flash I was able to take some normal photos.

Arcueil Museum and Aqueduct

The visit does not start from the ossuary itself, but from the small Museum of the Catacombs, where the history of the quarries is shown in photographs. Once these were the places where the rock was mined for the needs of Paris. Previously, when the city was much smaller than it is now, they were outside the city limits. Paris grew, and, in the end, the quarries fell into the city.

How did the skulls and remains of the long dead end up in the quarries? As a capital and large city, Paris acquired many cemeteries within itself. Among them was a very large cemetery of the Innocent Martyrs. This was explained by the fact that the churches, under which they were, took money for the burial of the dead on their territory. This was strongly encouraged by the clergy, as it brought a good income.

However, the cemeteries grew both in depth and in breadth. Various gloomy events in Paris only added to the huge number of corpses. For example, the bubonic plague or St. Bartholomew's night, and then the French Revolution were reliable suppliers of the remains of thousands of people. So at the cemetery of the Innocent Martyrs, by the end of the 18th century, more than 2 million dead had already accumulated. People were buried on top of old graves. A terrible stench spread from the cemetery, and it became a breeding ground for various infections. But the same church opposed its liquidation. After all, this meant the end of one of her reliable sources of income.

Finally, after the wall separating the cemetery itself from the residential areas collapsed, and an avalanche of human remains, sewage, etc. poured into the courtyards of people, it was decided to transfer the bodies and skeletons to the quarries. Within the boundaries of Paris, burial was banned altogether, and other cemeteries were also eliminated.

This is how the Catacombs and their ossuaries appeared.

From this museum, the path leads to the Arceuil aqueduct, a water pipe that supplied water to the Luxembourg Palace and to those places where limestone was previously mined. Actually, there is nothing particularly interesting there. Bare walls. Only the arches of the aqueduct, tending upwards, are impressive.

Port Mahon Gallery

Here we were shown sculptures in stone, made by one of the working masons Decure. As a soldier in the service of Cardinal Richelieu, he entered the service in the quarry, where he began to make these sculptures. What was his purpose in carrying them out is unknown. There is a sign next to it, on which all this information is indicated in French. By the way, Decure died here, from the collapse of the stoneworks, trying to improve his creation.

The sculpture is a model of a fort in the city of Port Mahon, on the island of Menorca, which is part of the Balearic Islands. Decure spent some time in prison there when he was taken prisoner by the British. During the revolution, the sculptures were destroyed, but then, already in the middle of the 19th century, they were restored.

"Foot bath" (Bain des pieds)

Why such a strange name for a simple well, which was previously used by quarry workers? The point here is the extraordinary transparency of the water, due to which visitors simply did not notice the well itself and could accidentally wet their feet in it.

This was until 1983, when electricity was provided in the catacombs. To see the well today, you need to go down even lower. But after it, the level of the gallery rises and leads to the entrance to the ossuary itself.

Ossuary (Ossuarium)

"Stop! Here begins the realm of the dead, ”- such an inscription appears on top, at the entrance to the ossuary. This quote belongs to the poet Jacques Delisle. Further, in the ossuary itself, we saw many sayings and passages from the works of French poets and writers about death and the frailty of life.

The entrance itself is easily recognizable by the black and white columns that precede it. Of course, various impolite visitors have already left inscriptions on them.

Most of the galleries are closed to visitors. Only a small part of them is available for inspection. But this is done only for the benefit of the visitors themselves. After all, some of them are under the threat of flooding or collapse. And it's very easy to get lost there without a guide.

Bones and skulls are laid out along the walls, while forming a peculiar and creepy pattern. The skulls were laid out in a line under and over the bones. They also have plaques on them, which indicate from which cemetery they were transferred. By the way, somewhere among these bones lie the remains of famous figures of France: Robespierre, Danton, Colbert, Rabelais, etc.

These galleries made a terrible, but at the same time majestic impression on me. You are imbued with a feeling of some strange calm and understand that everything in the world is just vanity of vanities.

The galleries lead to the so-called Samaritan Fountain. It was made in 1810 to collect groundwater, which was discovered by the workers of the catacombs. It is named so because of the episode with Jesus Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob. Another reason is the allegory with Lethe, the river in the realm of the dead from Greek mythology. According to legend, souls drank water from it in order to forget the circumstances of their lives.

Next comes another large hall, which is called the Sacellum crypt (from Latin “sanctuary”). The so-called altar is located there, which was made as a copy of an ancient tomb found in France in 1807. There is also a large, white cross and stone stools.

After that, we ended up in another gloomy place (Although it would seem, where is it gloomier?). In a small hall, a bowl in antique form stands on a stone pillar. What do you think it was for? We are told that it was used to burn tar and improve air ventilation inside the quarries. The fact is that a terrible smell spread from the bones, and the workers had nothing to breathe. That's why it was installed in the first place. Resin was also burned to pay tribute to the dead.

As we walked further through the galleries, we saw what we thought was a tomb. But in fact, this is something like a false tomb, designed to support the vaults of the quarries. It was erected in honor of the damned poet Nicolas Gilbert. His poems are engraved on it.

The only real tombstone in the ossuary acquires the remains of a certain Françoise Gelyan or Lady Legros. She had a rather sad fate: she fell in love with an adventurer who was in prison and whom she had never even seen. She found his note near the prison. As a result, she devoted almost part of her life to getting him out of there.

Already at the exit from the crypt is the Passion Hall or the Rotunda of Bones. It is there that there is a column in the form of a barrel of lined skulls and bones, which can be found in numerous photographs of the Catacombs on the Internet.

End of visit

At the very end, you find yourself in another hall, which was formed here as a result of collapses. From 1874 to 1875 there were three of them at once. Workers cleared two of them.

Thus, this hall appeared, which demonstrates different geological layers. They are specially painted in different colors.

We climbed up the spiral staircase to the surface.

At the exit there is, as usual, a shop with souvenirs, which are made in the form of bones or skulls. Need a skull or skeleton keychain? Then you are here. I did not buy anything there, because I had enough impressions from the catacombs. The price of such souvenirs starts from 5 EUR.

How to get there

You need to get to the metro station "Denfert-Rochereau" (Denfert-Rochereau). It is located at the intersection of two metro lines at once: No. 4 and No. 6.

Landmark - a sculpture of a lion nearby. There you can easily find the entrance through a long queue.

Opening hours

The catacombs are open almost all week: Tuesday-Sunday - from 10:00 to 20:30. The box office closes at 19:30. The catacombs are closed on Mondays, May 1, August 15 and January 1.

Advice: in winter or autumn, you can come up to 17:00 from the opening hour. The queue will take from an hour to an hour and a half. In summer, during the tourist season, it is best to come to the catacombs in the morning, 2 hours before opening, so as not to stand in line for a long time.

Entry fee

There are several ticket options:

• catacombs + expositions - 12 EUR, 10 EUR - for beneficiaries (students, etc.);
• catacombs + archaeological crypt - 16 EUR and 13 EUR, respectively.

Fine for being outside the tourist areas - from 60 EUR!

Visiting Rules

Entry with large bags or backpacks is not allowed as some of the aisles are very narrow. Only bags no larger than 40 x 30 cm are allowed. They must be carried in the hand or in front of you.

Since it is quite cool inside even in summer, it is better to take a warm sweater or jacket with you.

Viewing the catacombs is contraindicated for pregnant women and young children.

You can take pictures inside calmly, but only with a flash: it is very dark inside.