Walking around the Empire of Death in Paris

A few days after taking in the magic of Paris, I am more than looking forward to explore the dark tunnels full of bones and skulls beneath the City of Lights. We save an entire afternoon for the Catacombs having read that the entry queues are long. And right enough, we wait for almost two hours before we can get a ticket (approximately €8) and the audio guide (€3).

Unnerving, mysterious, disturbing and yet beautiful, welcome to the Empire of the Dead or the Catacombs of Paris. A 321 km stretch of old quarries, tunnels and caves is now home to the remains of 6 million Parisians. Only around 2km is open to the public though, because people started vandalising it. But it does not mean that no one ventures down these forbidden paths. As per news reports, Cataphiles, are known to go deeper into the catacombs in smaller groups, illegally and unsupervised, to explore them. Sometimes they have parties et al, underground. But if they are caught they're fined approximately €60.


A sculpture in the Port-Mahon corridor created by a quarryman named Décure, who had fought in the armies of Louis XV.

We descend approximately 130 dimly-lit narrow spiral stairs, leading us 20 meters underground to the first quarry called Avenue René Coty. We walk for about 10 minutes through three more quarries; the Workshop, the Port–Mahon Corridor and the Quarrymen’s footbath (used for washing themselves or their feet as well as to mix cement). But no bones yet. I’m soon bored of the quarries and cannot wait to reach the ossuaries. And then I see it, an entryway with a sign that reads “Arêtee, c’est ici l’empire de la mort” (Stop! This is the empire of death!). That sure got us a little jumpy! We tread along and soon we are surrounded by bones and skulls piled from floor to ceiling. What's truly fascinating is the way the bones and skulls are stacked so neatly and the designs that are made out of them, the most common being the Cross. Since the number of visitors is restricted to 200 at any time, we don’t have the company of many other tourists. Most of the time it's just us and the dead in the darkness and eerie silence.

The history of the tunnels goes back to the 13th century, when limestone was excavated from underground to build the city of Paris. That's how the tunnels came into existence.  By the 18th century, the cemeteries in Paris had no more room for the dead and were believed to have become a source of infection. These underground quarries served as a solution. As per the brochure, the first bones brought to the tunnels, in 1786 were simply thrown in the corridors. It was only in around 1810, under the Empire, that the General Inspector of Quarries had the Catacombs arranged in an orderly fashion, forming a decorative façade with skulls and long bones, behind which the remaining bones were piled in a heap.  

We spend around 45minutes traipsing through the narrow dull tunnels in absolute awe of the Empire of the dead that lay below the very lively and vibrant city above. On exiting the ossuary, we walk up the stairs to street level welcoming the fresh air, the bright daylight and the hustle and bustle of the busy street, but still absorbed in the impressiveness of the Catacombs.

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