The bones of 6 million people are found in the underground tunnels of Paris. Catacombs consist of tunnels where bones are arranged and exhibited in an orderly manner. The catacombs known as the Catacombes make for a terrifying sight. This interesting tunnel is arranged in the form of an art gallery made of real human bones.
The Catacombes is one of the oldest quarries where the limestone used in the construction of buildings in Paris is mined. Only 2 kilometers of the 250 kilometers long tunnel can be visited. Located in Paris, this tunnel is considered the largest underground cemetery in the world.
The Cause of Human Skeletons Found in the Tunnel
Paris had a very difficult time at the end of the 1700s. An emerging epidemic disease gripped the city and caused the death of millions of people. On an ordinary day, a person who went out to buy bread from home died before he reached his night. At the time of very rapid deaths, people had to walk by jumping over the corpses found on the roads.
All the cemeteries in Paris were full, and the number of dead lying on the street was more than the number of living creatures. Decaying corpses have started to threaten public health by contaminating drinking water. For this reason, it was decided to move the human remains found in the cemeteries of Paris underground as a solution. In fact, it is said that the quality of milk and wine, which were sacred drinks, decreased due to these decays in the same period.
The dead and cemeteries lying on the street were moved to this tunnel, which was a stone quarry, as a result of a decision taken in 1785. The transported bones were not arranged in the form of a cemetery, but were arranged on top of each other with the logic of an exhibition. For this reason, it is called an art gallery. At that time, many cemeteries were emptied and the dead were transported to this tunnel. It is considered as a respect for the dead that the cemeteries, which were removed due to epidemics and expropriation, are not completely destroyed and exhibited in this way. But it is a chilling situation that the dead people are exhibited in this way and that it is a place to visit.
Among the 6 million skeletons carried, there are countless names from the French Revolution, such as Georges Danton and Maximilian de Robespierre. In addition to these names, there are famous artists such as Charles Perrault and hundreds of characters from French history. It has been forbidden to enter the galleries in the tunnel since 1955. In 2017, 3 young people who went to the cemetery disappeared into the labyrinth and were rescued 3 days later.
