In addition to its wonderful museums and its typical cafés, Paris is full of mysteries. Do you know for instance that there is a veritable maze of underground tunnels below the city of lights? If you have seen the Da Vinci Code, this visit may be for you.

The undergrounds of Paris are part of the folklore and go back to the origins of the city; Paris was actually built on a layer of materials that have been used for its construction. Quarries have been dug under the city from the 14th century in a completely anarchic way. Many accidents began to take place in the early 19th century and the exploitation of the quarries was finally banned.

Until the late 17th century there were large cemeteries within the walls of Paris, the most famous one being the cemetery of the Innocents and its common graves. The smell was unbearable, and neighbourhood complaints forced the authorities to find a solution.

It was therefore decided to close the cemeteries of Paris and to transfer the bones of the existing cemeteries to the old quarries. The process lasted almost 100 years and the bones of at least 6 million people were piled up on 11,000 square metres of galleries. Twice as much as the current population of Paris!
The entrance of the Paris catacombes is at Métro Denfert Rochereau (on the site of the former “square of hell”) and they are open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm. This municipal ossuary is 1.7 km long and lies 20 metres below the surface: this is only but a small part of the catacombs, the rest can’t be visited.

Dark and humid corridors, a temperature of 11 degrees all year, bones carefully stacked from the largest to smallest, skulls neatly stacked on both sides of dark corridors that are barely one metre wide. What an experience! However, since their creation, the Paris catacombes has aroused curiosity. In 1787, the future Charles X visited it in the company of some ladies of the Court. In 1814, François 1st, Emperor of Austria visited them and in 1860, Napoleon III came down with his son. In 1897, 45 members of the Paris Opera gave a clandestine concert there!

The walls are covered with graffiti dating from the eighteenth century and many authors and filmmakers used this mythical place in their works, such as Victor Hugo in Les Miserables or Pierre Tchernia in the movie Les Gaspards. The catacombs of Paris reopened in 2005 after several months of closure for repairs. Lighting has been revised and the vaults and the walls of bones were consolidated: don’t be intimidated by the verses of the poet Delille at the entrance: “Stop, here begins the grip of Death”.
Come and discover a mythical place in Paris which has aroused curiosity for already 300 years and continues to fascinate urban explorers!

Rent comfortable and cheap apartments in Paris now, visit the paris catacombs and you’ll have some amazing stories to tell your friends about when you get back!