What Are The Paris Catacombs?

If Zola called the Les Halles Market Paris’s belly, and Hugo called the sewers Paris’s intestines, the Catacombs –this vast network of tunnels and their famed skeletons in their final resting places --were christened its lining.
And We Can Visit The Catacombs?

Yes! Or at least the part that is deemed safe for the public, a fraction of the whole.
In descending these steps into the netherworld, you’ll be part of a longstanding French tradition: visitors have been stepping downward among these old bones since the time of their placement here, well before its Napoleonic era opening to the public. From 1809 until 1830, the Catacombs entertained almost-daily crowds of interested visitors, proto-Goths, eager to enter the “Empire of Death.” In fact lines were carved into the winding ceilings of these macabre paths, so that an unfortunate might not lose their way. Unless their candle went out. Oops.

You on the other hand can have an optimal experience as a VIP with a Memories France guide to show you around, including parts that are usually cordoned off to the general public. Look for our Catacombs of Paris VIP Tour and book your tickets for an unforgettable tour that skips lines and lets you see things that the garden variety visitor cannot, with an expert guide and a group of no more than 6 people. Locked sections of the catacombs will be opened for our small group by the guards, and will reveal surprising and fascinating treasures !
Read further to learn more about there history, which stretches back into the deep past.
History of the Paris Catacombs

Getting Medieval
It begins with the coveted Lutetia limestone. Out of their quarries grew Gothic wonders from Parisian ground. The old mines soon became a haven of rogues, perhaps even the domicile of the devil himself (wasn’t the area indeed called the Passage d’Enfer, Hell’s Passage?), so the legends said.
The Bones Come to the Catacombs
Then in 1780, Paris’s central cemetery of Les Innocents was so overblown with the dead that it burst through a basement, pouring out corpses into the cellar. Something had to be done. Bones upon bones were transferred to the old mines, precisely to the rookeries of Satan’s domain. Other parish graveyards followed and thus the quarry became ossuary.

Revolution!
While the disinterring took a break at the Revolution’s outbreak, the very tumult of the times made it more dire still. The Revolution’s September Massacres created thousands of corpses in the space of a few days. Further to that when the high point of the guillotine’s nasty work produced twelve headless bodies per five minutes, what to do with these problematic cadavers? As enemies of the state they could not be given proper burial. So they stuffed them into the Catacombs.
The Inconvenient Dead
After that, with society’s cooling off period under the Directory, and then under Napoleon, they became embarrassing evidence that the French Revolution was not all razed Bastille and Rights of Man. The solution was to cram the corpses willy-nilly alongside the other bodies salvaged from the city’s overflowing graveyards.
It came to be, so the visitor’s books say, a sort of realization of the Revolution’s ideals, fraternity among the remains that only the Grim Reaper’s scythe could bring about, skulls and femurs and rib cages all strewn together without hierarchies, no deference to rank, distinction or even name. All was even-handed justice in the realm of the dead. The Catacombs functioned as a kind of anti-Père-Lachaise, the Parisian cemetery where money bought memory. As one early visitor remarked, “the nobleman is nothing but a pile of dust.” Or another “equality, constant equality, here you take back your rights” and again : “True Equality is here. Some suggest that this is why skeletons so frighten us, reducing us to absolute anonymity and the leveling that comes along with it.

Napoleon, and the Bones Apart
At first it was a higgledly-piggledy chaos of corpses. Just for its official opening, on Napoleon’s order, the bones took on their present-day architectural airs and graces, modeled on Rome’s catacombs. Viewers could now contemplate so many memento mori and reflect upon the old adage that all is vanity while strolling from chamber to chamber, encountering such improbable additions as a goldfish pond, or more likely accouterments: a sepulchral lamp or lacrimatory vase in which the mourning poured their tears.
Mostly though, it seems as if chills were the sought after response. One writer elaborated: “A secret horror seizes you, you flee . . but in vain; the terrible spectacle of the Catacombs accompanies you, it pursues you, and for days you see nothing in front of you but hideous skeletons who seem jealous of your existence and endeavor to tear it from you.”
After your 112 steps back up perhaps you’ll have the same sentiment as another earlier visitor: “I won’t be coming back to this somber place until someone carries me down,” the moment indeed when the avenues of the catacombs all become a one way street.
While this touches on the rich history of the Paris Catacombs, much much more can be both explored and understood by a guided tour with Memories France. We can get you to nooks and crannies generally closed to the public, which alone is more than worth it, but also you gather in the depths of the lore and darker recesses of our history, learning of a place not to be entered into lightly.

Are The Paris Catacombs Worth Visiting?
If the above has not yet convinced you, think of a bone-chilling, spine-tingling plunge into a lugubrious labyrinth of the underworld, in all senses of the word.
Visiting the Catacombs in Paris
Our tips should set you up for an ideal trip to the Catacombs.

Count at least an hour for a solid visit, or between 1.5 and 2 hours should you have the good idea of booking our tour. Please note that the tours fill up many months in advance, places are very limited and sell out fast. The site is fragile, and only 200 visitors are allowed at any one time. Once you have your travel dates set we recommend you secure your spots as soon as possible. This is not a tour people tend to cancel and last minute spaces rarely become available.
Entry fee for adults is 31 euros at time of writing, and if you decide to go the ticket only route, you are also strongly encouraged to book in advance. Ticket sales open 7 days in advance and are timed. You might have some luck early in the morning if you haven’t booked, and winter is the least crowded time. Make sure you book on the official catacombs site, and avoid operators offering high mark ups for little or no extra value. It's an extremely popular site, frauds abound!
Do be aware that with 131 steps down and 112 back up again, it is not wheelchair accessible and the uneven flooring is not well adapted to those with other kinds of reduced mobility. Finally, those with cardiac and respiratory conditions are alerted that the place is not hospitable to those issues. Likewise if you suffer from claustrophobia, you can of course stand up in all the tunnels but they are narrow and space is very limited. Children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult.

What to Wear to the Paris Catacombs
It goes without saying that you’ll want comfortable shoes for a good bit of walking over a tricky pavement.
As you’ll be deep underground think of the cooler temperatures, of 14° C/57° F and take along a light jacket or sweater.
What and What Not to Bring to the Catacombs
Do bring a camera but do not use a flash, or make sure the automatic is disabled.
IF you need a bag along make sure its under 40x30x20 cm, as anything over and above that is not allowed. There is also no suitcase storage.
Strollers are not permitted.

Final Tips
You cannot eat or drink in the Catacombs, just in case you still had an appetite in front of all those human bones. Also DON’T TOUCH them, however inviting they may be, whatever they may whisper to you... they are fragile and it's our responsibility to protect and preserve them. And DO NOT in any way attempt to remove anything from inside the catacombs, bags can be searched on the way out and this is an absolute no go.
Last but not least, book a tour with Memories France for a visit that will set your marrow to trembling, as well a guide well versed in the secrets and mysteries of this strange, unique, place, who asks nothing more than to share all that with you. You’ll be sure to get a spot, skip the lines, see parts that are unavailable to the average run of tourist and otherwise be treated as the VIP you’ll indeed be.
Angelissa, Siobhan & the Memories France Family