The truth untold about the 6 million skulls under Paris

We all have heard about the fabulous city of Paris; a place that has been the house of famous painters, sculptors, musicians, etc. In short, it’s the cradle of art, development and also the capital of fashion. In this place beauty reigns everywhere.

Paris is an important european city considered a world center of art, fashion, gastronomy and culture. It’s the most popular tourist destination in the world. Every year millions of people visit the awesome monuments such as the famous Eiffel Tower; and the more than one hundred museums that shelter incredible works of art such as Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Thinking of Paris is definitely thinking about glamour, art, food and a lot of beautiful things; but the city hides a secret that only a few peopke know. Under its streets are more than 6 million skeletons.

We are talking about the Paris Catacombs

During the Roman Empire, the subsoil of present-day Paris was an important source of limestone and marble, appreciated to construct buildings and monuments. The Romans built mines to obtain the stone and created a labyrinth of tunnels of 400 kilometers long and 20 meters deep under what is now Montparnasse, Montrouge and Montsorius.

These tunnels and underground rooms became one of the largest cemeteries in the world, housing more than six million human skeletons.

Historically, Paris has been the second most important city in Europe, where battles have been fought and it has survived epidemics. Therefore, the bone remains accumulated over more than a thousand years began to exceed the capacity of the small cemeteries. That is when the idea of ​​moving the bones to the mines arose.

The graves that were supposed to be individual began to be shared. In a single space two, three or even four corpses could be found; and the decomposing bodies accumulated outdoors because there was no longer a place to bury them. The scene was truly horrific.

Besides, people began to get sick due to contamination from the mishandling of the corpses.Then a vicious circle began, in which Parisians died from pollution and their bodies would become part of the problem that would cause more deaths.

The solution was not in front of their noses but under their feet.

In 1786, Charles-Axel Guillaumot, the General Inspector of Quarries, approved the use of these mines to store human skeletons. This is how the famous Paris Catacombs were born.

It took approximately two years to move all the remains from multiple cemeteries. The activity was make at night, crossing the city in carts. At first, the bones were simply piled up, but later it was decided to organize them to make a better use of space.

In the end, the remains of 6 million people were accumulated in 800 meters of galleries with walls full of bones. The ossuary is only a part of the entire complex network of tunnels.

The Paris Catacombs are open to the public but only in a 0.5%. The tunnels are so extensive that you could get lost and never find your way out. A well-known case is the one of Philibert Aspairt, a janitor who disappeared in 1793. Eleven years later, his lifeless body was found in the catacombs.

You can visit this underground city in a guided and safe route and observe an incredible monument formed from the remains of millions of Parisians.