The Catacombs

Catacombs

The last afternoon, I went to the Catacombs.

First, a bit of history. From what I understand, the Catacombs used to be stone quarries and run underneath a lot of Paris. The cemeteries were getting too full, so the bodies were exhumed and brought to the quarries, which by that time were long abandoned. The bones were placed in an ‘artistic’ pattern along both sides of all the passageways. I’ve included a picture of what they look like. This picture is from google (http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2007-09/paris-catacombs-2-wall-of-bones.jpg), as none of my pictures developed properly because we weren’t allowed to use flash.

When I got to the Catacombs, I was surprised by two things. First, there was light down in the passageways; the Concierge at the hotel had originally told me I would need to bring a flashlight or some other light source. The second surprise was that it was a straight shot through the Catacombs and you come up a few blocks away from where you went down underground. All the side-paths were closed off so no one could get lost. I was originally under the impression that you could go down, wander around, and then find your way back to the starting point, but it was a single passage through with no need to return back the way you came.

It was a pretty strange experience. At first, there were only long bare passageways, but a few minutes of walking later, the bones began. There were also a lot of passageways leading off the main one, but they were all barred shut. I can only imagine how extensive the network is. It was weird to think about how many bones were down there, how many people were down there. There were a lot of memorial markers, all in French so I don’t know what they said. There were also a few really cool stone carvings, carved right into the rock along the passages.

At one point, a family just ahead of me (American, judging by their accents) was wondering aloud to each other why the Catacombs were there in the first place, so I offered to tell them what I knew (which I included above). I was caught a bit off guard when they asked if they could film me talking, since they were recording their entire trip to Paris. I agreed, and told them as much of the history as I knew. As I was walking away, I heard one of the girls say, “Can you imagine it being your job to artistically assemble skeletons? I can’t imagine it pays very well.”

A bit farther along, I noticed something that made me laugh a little. A fire extinguisher. Now, I know they have to have them for safety regulations, but it struck me as odd that they would need a fire extinguisher where the only things around are rock and bone, and everything’s damp anyway. I suppose the visitors could catch on fire, but if you manage to set yourself on fire in the Catacombs, that has to be some kind of accomplishment.

Near the end, there were a couple ‘bell caverns,’ which are caverns formed from parts of the ceiling collapsing on the passageways slowly over time. According to the signs that were actually in English, parts of the ceiling in particularly unstable areas collapsed, forming a bell-shaped cavern above the passageway, and eventually the structural integrity gives way and the passage caves in completely in that spot. Of course, that was when the quarries were in use. Nowadays, people have the power of concrete, and the few bell caverns that hadn’t collapsed had been reinforced to be safe. They’re pretty cool to walk through.

After a half hour or so, I reached the end of the passage and started the 100 or so steps up to ground level. There were actually less steps going up than there had been going down because the ground was lower (and therefore the Catacombs were closer to the surface) where the exit was.

--Matt Ciaffone