The Catacombs and their history

Quarries
Visitors in
the corridors
of the Ossuary
Bones brought
from the Cimetière
des Innocents
in April 1786
Avenue René Coty
3
Access is via a stairway leading to the Catacombs,
20 meters below ground. Visitors begin by walking through
long narrow corridors leading to the space beneath
avenue René Coty (formerly avenue Montsouris), where
inscriptions on the walls provide the names of the streets
above and details of works conducted in the corridors
(e.g. reinforcement, in the 18th century, of the Arcueil
aqueduct, which was built between 1613 and 1623 at the
behest of Marie de Médicis).
2
The Port-Mahon corridor
Refers to the so-called “Lutetia” (the Gallo-Roman name for Paris)
geological level, which is 45 millions years old.
Overview
of Port-Mahon
4
The Quarrymen’s footbath
The so-called “Quarrymen’s footbath” (bain de pieds des
carriers) is a body of crystal-clear groundwater uncovered
by the quarry workers. The water was subsequently used
by workers mixing cement required during works in the
Catacombs.
The Quarrymen’s
footbath
The “Fontaine de la Samaritaine”
1
The so-called Fontaine de la Samaritaine (Samaritan
woman’s fountain) is a spring surrounded by a small
circular space, the walls of which are made of bones
from the Cimetière des Innocents.
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5
The Workshop
*
6
The sculptures in the Port-Mahon corridor, which are
a highlight of the visit, were created by a quarryman
named Décure, who had fought in the armies of Louis XV.
In the walls of the quarry, Décure sculpted the fortress
of Port-Mahon, the largest town on the island of Minorca,
one of the Balearic Islands, where he is believed to have
been held prisoner by the English.
The “Workshop” is a disused quarry featuring stacked
pillars (made of several pieces of stone) and pillars hewn
in situ – two techniques used for supporting the quarry
ceilings during Lutetian* limestone quarrying.
The “Workshop”
Entrance
to the ossuary
Entrance
Ossuary
The space located before the entrance to the ossuary
is used for themed exhibitions.
The ossuary door is framed by two stone pillars decorated
with white geometric figures on black backgrounds. The
lintel bears the alexandrine “Arrête, c’est ici l’empire de la
mort” (Stop! This is the empire of death!) in black letters.
Further along, other maxims and reflections on the
fragility of human life may be found.
The visitor is now surrounded by the remains of some
six millions Parisians, stacked in the 780 metres of
corridors running under the quadrilateral formed
by avenue René Coty, rue Hallé, rue Dareau and rue
d’Alembert. The first bones were brought in 1786, and
simply thrown in the corridors. It was only in around 1810,
under the Empire, that General Inspector of Quarries
Héricart de Thury (1776-1854) had the Catacombs arranged
in an orderly fashion, forming a decorative façade with
the skulls and long bones, behind which the remaining
bones were piled in a heap.
The Sacellum Crypt: altar and large cross
Ossuary
5 Entrance to the ossuary
6 Fontaine de la Samaritaine 7 Sacellum Crypt 8 Sepulchral Lamp
9 “Gilbert’s Tomb”
10 Fighting at the Réveillon
factory (plaque)
11 Françoise Géllain’s
tombstone
12 Crypt of the Passion QUARRIES
3
4
The corridor broadens, revealing an altar modelled
on an ancient tomb and a chapel known as the “Sacellum
Crypt”. A plaque on the left marks the spot where the first
bones from the Cimetière des Innocents were placed in
April 1786.
Entrance to the ossuary
Quarries
1 Avenue René Coty
2 Workshop
3 Port-Mahon corridor
4 Quarrymen’s footbath
ty
Co
né
Re
© Musée Carnavalet /
Roger-Viollet
The Catacombs were created at the end of the 18th century
to serve as an ossuary. In 1780, Paris’s largest cemetery, the
Cimetière des Saints-Innocents, located in the Les Halles
district, was closed for public-health reasons at the request
of local residents. On 9 November 1785, the Council of
State issued a decree requiring the removal of the human
remains. The task of choosing and preparing the storage
site fell to the quarries department, which had been set
up by the Royal Council on 4 April 1777 for the purpose of
protecting and reinforcing Paris’s quarries and preventing
subsidence. It was decided that bones from all of the city’s
cemeteries would be stored in disused limestone quarries
in the Tombe-Issoire district. This continued until 1860,
notably during the extensive urban development carried
out by Haussmann. At the beginning of the 19th century, the
Catacombs opened to the public, attracting large numbers
of visitors, including such prestigious figures as Francis I
of Austria, who visited them in 1814, and Napoleon III,
who visited in 1860 with his son, the Prince Imperial.
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Ossuary
ue
en
Av
The Catacombs
and their history
Quarries
2
Ru
eD
are
au
Overview
5
7
11
12
OSSUARY
8
6
10
13
9
Educational
corridor
The large cross in
the Sacellum Crypt
e
Ru
Fontaine de la Samaritaine
Exit
cel
on
um
D
my
Ré
Educational corridor
13 Ossuary exit
Bones
This barrel-shaped array of skulls and shin bones in the
Crypt of the Passion hides a pillar supporting the ceiling
of the Catacombs. It was in this crypt that a macabre
clandestine concert took place on 2 April 1897, between
midnight and two o’clock in the morning. The event was
attended by scientists, scholars, artists and distinguished
persons of wealth. The two workers who let them in were
sacked as soon as their identities were discovered.
The Paris Catacombs and the
Archaeological Crypt on place du parvis
Notre-Dame are historical sites managed
by Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris.
Conditions
and accessibility
Guided tours
and group visits
M
V'
: Metro station
: Vélib’ rank
: Toilets
*
x
ENTRANCE
denfert-Rochereau
V'
Rue
d
manmade layer
Victims of fighting at the
Réveillon factory (plaque)
evau
M
uer
re
V'
RER
white marl
Rue
yellow sand
white marl
loose stones
Metro tunnel
Dag
V' M
Mou
ton
Duv
Mouton Duvernet
Coty
ené
Av R
erne
t
white marl and loose stones
yellow sand
The barrel
Plaques commemorating fighting at the Réveillon
factory on 18 May 1789 and at the Tuileries on
10 August 1792
loose stones
Rue du Couédic
c
grey marl and loose stones
ler
aT
om
be
Gé
catacomb corridor
backfill
Alésia
V' M
ed
el
Av
d
Exit
Rue d'Alésia
Ru
Geological strata
u
small rocks
rock
Françoise Géllain’s
tombstone
Iss
né
oir
e
ra
lL
rock
With the exception of the victims of the massacres of
September 1792, those killed in these two key events of the
French Revolution are the only people who have ever been
buried directly in the Catacombs.
V'
Rue Rémy Dumoncel
ec
sand
corridors
10
“Gilbert’s Tomb”
Froid
eL
STREET LEVEL
white marl and loose stones
Sepulchral Lamp
Rue
V'
nd
Cloches de fontis, in French
V'
Visitor numbers are restricted to
200 at any time. Admission may
be delayed for a short time during
busy periods.
Distance covered: 2 km.
Duration of the tour: 45 minutes.
No toilet or cloakroom facilities
available.
130 steps to go down and 83 steps
back up to street level.
Temperature: 14°C.
The tour is unsuitable for people
with heart or respiratory problems,
those of a nervous disposition and
young children.
The Catacombs are not accessible
for persons with reduced mobility.
Children under the age of 14 must
be accompanied by an adult.
Individuals: enquire at the
information desk.
Groups (10 to 20 people):
group visits (guided or otherwise)
are possible only in the mornings,
from Tuesday to Friday inclusive.
Booking mandatory six weeks in
advance with the Musée Carnavalet
cultural affairs department. Monday
to friday, from 9 am to 5 pm on
+33 (0)1 44 59 58 31 / 32
(fax: +33 (0)1 44 59 58 07).
Warning
Any person caught damaging or
stealing bones from the City of Paris
Catacombs will be prosecuted.
All bags are searched at the exit.
Mairie de Paris - DIRECTION DES AFFAIRES CULTURELLES / COMMUNIC’ART / Maquette : Passe Moi le Sel / Photos : C. Fouin, except for the cover and the barrel : D. Messina
The Crypt of the Passion: the barrel
Only photography for strictly
personal use is allowed.
No tripods or flash.
ala
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Film and photography
Open daily from 10am to 5pm,
except Mondays and public holidays
Last admission: 4pm.
e
On leaving the ossuary, visitors enter the underground
educational corridor managed by the General
Inspectorate of Quarries. The corridor, which runs under
rue Rémy Dumoncel, features consolidated bell-shaped
subsidence cavities* illustrating the commonest type
of damage sustained by limestone quarries in Paris
(i.e. ceiling collapse). The coloured stripes in the cemented
cavities represent the alternating geological layers. The
18th century exit stairway leads to 36, rue Rémy Dumoncel.
Françoise Géllain spent much of her life working to have
the adventurer Latude (1725-1805) freed from the Bastille,
where he was imprisoned on several occasions. He spent
some 30 years behind bars, in the Bastille, Vincennes,
Charenton and Bicêtre.
“Gilbert’s Tomb”
This sarcophagus-shaped feature, which is not actually
a tomb, serves to mask reinforcement works. It bears some
melancholic verse by the poet Gilbert, who died in 1780 at
the age of 29, and is buried elsewhere.
Ossuary exit
Opening hours
Metro and RER: Denfert-Rochereau
Metro lines 4 and 6. RER line B.
Bus routes 38 and 68
ou
lar
9
13
Access
1, avenue du Colonel
Henri Rol-Tanguy - 75014 Paris
Tel. : +33 (0)1 43 22 47 63
www.catacombes.paris.fr
et www.carnavalet.paris.fr
Ru
The oldest artefact in the Catacombs is the Sepulchral
Lamp – a bowl in which quarrymen kept a fire burning
constantly in order to create a draught to make the air
circulate in the corridors. When shafts were created,
this primitive solution was no longer required.
The only tombstone: Françoise Géllain
(Dame Legros)
Paris Catacombs
eB
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The Sepulchral Lamp
Educational corridor
sewer
8
Ossuary
Ru
Ossuary
The Paris
Catacombs
A visitors’ guide
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DE LA
VILLE DE
PARIS
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