The most macabre tourist attraction in Paris, the Catacombs, was initially a very practical solution to a serious 18th century sanitation problem. Cemeteries in Paris were overfull, so the remains needed to be moved to a separate, safer location underground. The skeletons were taken from many cemeteries around Paris, but primarily from les Saintes-Innocents, a very popular burial location for Parisians from the 12th to the 18th century.
The Catacombs are the final resting place for over six million Parisians throughout history. Beginning in 1785, remains were transferred to the Catacombs nightly for two years and sporadically for several years after that. The work of moving the remains had to be done at night, so that Parisians would not get upset and protest the removal of their deceased loved ones from their initial burial place. A priest accompanied the transfer of the bones and said a prayer for those who were being laid to rest once again. However, despite this care, the remains were dumped rather unceremoniously into the tunnels of the Catacombs.
It was not until Napoleon came to power that the bones were set up in the decorative way that they are today. Napoleon decided that the piles of Parisian bones sitting in tunnels beneath the city were not merely a practical sanitation solution but also a potential tourist attraction. Inspired by the famous catacombs in Rome, Napoleon appointed two men, Nicolas Frochot and Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury, to turn the Catacombs into a site worth touring. Thus, the bones were arranged artistically and the design of the tunnels chosen very intentionally to appeal to tourists’ more morbid curiosity. One famous example of this is the sign above an entrance to the ossuary which reads: “Arrète! C’est ici l’empire de la mort” (Stop! This here is the empire of death”). These sort of dramatic touches might seem to an uniformed tourist to be the sign of a dark and ancient place, but in reality, they were a 19th century way to aggrandize the Catacomb’s spooky allure.
We might think of the Catacombs as an example of the Romantic or macabre fascinations of earlier ages. However, it is more truthful to understand them, as they stand today, as an intentional tourist attraction—and a very effective one at that. Over 150 years later, tourists in Paris are still happy to shell out €14 for a chance to visit Frochot and Héricart de Thury’s strangely beautiful underground ossuary.
References
“Histoire Des Catacombes.” Paris Pittoresque, www.paris-pittoresque.com/monuments/33.htm.
Karmelek, Mary. “You (Posthumously) Light up My Life.” Scientific American Blog Network,
Scientific American, 15 Apr. 2011, blogs.scientificamerican.com/anecdotes-from-thearchive/
you-posthumously-light-up-my-life/.
“L’histoire Du Site.” Les Catacombes De Paris, catacombes.paris.fr/lhistoire/lhistoire-du-site#.
“The Unbelievable Story of the Paris Catacombs.” Walks of Italy Blog, 6 Feb. 2017,
www.walksofitaly.com/blog/paris/paris-catacombs.
In spring 2020, my students and I embarked on an exploration of the City of Lights in our Unlocking Paris class. Each student investigated an aspect of Paris that might not be known to the typical tourist–artistic movements, architecture, and monuments. They then composed blog posts dedicated to their subject, went through peer editing, and finally revisions. Over the next month, I will feature their insightful, lively work on Creative Sanctuary. Our hope is to share beautiful Paris with our readers. I launch the series with my post on Paris’ Covered Passages.