Feb 3, 2017
The gateway to hell — this moniker doesn’t sit well with the Paris in my head. The Paris in my head is full of lights, music, food, fun and romance. It is, after all, La Ville Lumière (City of Lights). But beneath the glittering surface lies a dark, subterranean world — the one the moniker refers to. These are the Catacombs of Paris, a network of caves, quarries and tunnels that stretches across two kilometres. The Catacombs are the city’s underground ossuaries, holding the remains of around six million people. That’s almost three times the number of people (2.2 million, according to news reports) living within the city limits today.
The remains of these six million Parisians were transferred to the Catacombs during the late 18th and mid-19th centuries. Most graveyards in the city at the time were being closed because of the risk they posed to public health. Undoubtedly, there are many illustrious names in the list of the dead, including those who went to the guillotine during the French Revolution.
Some reports also suggest that the Nazis used the “Other Paris” — yet another name for the Catacombs — to build a bunker system during World War II. Among more recent news, the city police discovered a movie theatre in one of the caverns. And Airbnb offered people the chance to spend a night at the Catacombs.
Today, the dark underworld of Catacombs is a paradise for tourists and residents looking to escape the fast-paced city life. A certain section of it has now been transformed into a museum of sorts, with human skulls on the walls.
Photos: Shome Basu
