Catacombs

The next day we ventured into the Catacombs! There is a sign on the door that says "Stop, this is the Empire of Death!" The creation of this macrabe art began in 1786 when the cemetry of the innocents had to be moved from Les Halles as disease was spreading from this burial ground. The city had all these underground caverns created from the harvesting of stone to build the city so the priests consecrated the area and the corpses and skeletons were hauled in carts accompanied by chanting priests to these underground quarries.

At first, the bones were just thrown in as a jumble but then an architect decided to arrange them neatly. They are grouped according to the year they were moved. To enter the catacombs you have to go down this old spiral stair case about 90 steps or so. It is dark and eerie!

The walls are lined by millions of bones.....skulls, femurs and arm bones. In one place, the skulls are arranged in the shape of a heart! They are just stacked tightly...no mortar.

There are mock tombs of individuals that contributed to the making of the catacombs. The public began to make trips down these dark tunnels from 1789 onwards. Napoleon even brought his son down here. Graffiti lines the walls and dates back to the late 1700's! Shows that people haven't really changed all that much in a couple of hundred years!