Crypt of the Sepulchral Lamp in the Catacombs of Paris

The Catacombs of Paris are a famous underground ossuary in Paris, France. Organized in a renovated section of the city's vast network of subterranean tunnels and caverns towards the end of the 18^th century, it became a tourist attraction on a small scale from the early 19^th century, and was open to the public on a regular basis from 1867. Catacombs of Paris, 700 pixels wide. ... Catacombs of Paris, 700 pixels wide. ... This is a list of famous cemeteries, mausoleums and other places people are buried, world-wide. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

This cemetery covers a portion of Paris' former mines near the Left Bank's Place Denfert-Rochereau, in a location that was just outside the city gates before Paris expanded in 1860. Although this cemetery covers only a small section of underground tunnels officially called "les carrières de Paris" ("the quarries of Paris"), Parisians today popularly refer to the entire network as "the catacombs". The left bank of a river is the bank on the left when looking in the direction of flow towards the sea. ... The Lion of Belfort - Place Denfert-Rochereau Place Denfert-Rochereau, previously known as Place dEnfer, is located in the XIVe arrondissement of Paris, in the Montparnasse area and is situated at the intersection of boulevards Raspail, Arago and Saint-Jacques, and avenues René Coty, Général Leclerc, Denfert... 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ...

History

Paris Catacombs

Bone pile in Parisian Catacombs

Most of Paris' larger churches once had their own cemeteries, but city growth and generations of dead began to overwhelm them. From the late seventeenth century, Paris' largest Les Innocents cemetery (near the Les Halles district in the middle of the city) was saturated to a point where its neighbors were suffering from disease, due to contamination caused by improper burials, open mass graves, and earth charged with decomposing organic matter. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1822x1367, 623 KB) Image of Paris catacombs taken by Vlastimil Juricek I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1822x1367, 623 KB) Image of Paris catacombs taken by Vlastimil Juricek I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... The Saints Innocents Cemetery (Fr: Cimetière des Innocents) is a defunct cemetery in Paris, named as a memorial to the story of the Biblical Massacre of the Innocents. ... The outside of the Forum des Halles today Les Halles is an area of Paris, France, located in the 1er arrondissement. ...

After almost a century of ineffective decrees condemning the cemetery, it was finally decided to create three new large-scale suburban cemeteries and to condemn all existing within the city limits; the remains of all condemned cemeteries would be moved discreetly to a renovated section of Paris' abandoned quarries. The use of the depleted quarries for the storage of bones, based on the idea of Police Lieutenant General Alexandre Lenoir, was established in 1786 by his successor, M. Thiroux de Crosne, under the direction of Charles Axel Guillaumot, Inspector General of Quarries.

Remains from the cemetery of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs were among the first to be moved. Bodies of the dead from the riots in the Place de Grève, the Hotel de Brienne, and Rue Meslee were put in the catacombs on August 28 and August 29, 1788. The Place de Grève was, before 1802 the name of the plaza now the City Hall Plaza (place de lHôtel de Ville) in Paris, France. ... is the 240th day of the year (241st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1788 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

The catacomb walls are covered in graffiti dating from the eighteenth century onwards. Victor Hugo used his knowledge about the tunnel system in Les Misérables. In 1871 communards killed a group of monarchists in one chamber. During World War II, Parisian members of the French Resistance used the tunnel system. Also during this period, German soldiers established an underground bunker in the catacombs below Lycée Montaigne, a high school in the 6th arrondissement. (This bunker is not on the tourist route and can only be seen during an "unauthorized visit".) For other uses, see Graffiti (disambiguation). ... Victor-Marie Hugo (pronounced ) (February 26, 1802 — May 22, 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights campaigner, and perhaps the most influential exponent of the Romantic movement in France. ... This article is about the original 1862 novel. ... Le Père Duchesne looking at the statue of Napoleon I on top of the Vendome column: Eh ben ! bougre de canaille, on va donc te foutre en bas comme ta crapule de neveu !… (Well now! buggering rascal, we will knock you the fuck off just like your crook of... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Croix de Lorraine, the symbol of the resistance chosen by de Gaulle French Resistance is the name used for resistance movements during World War II which fought the Nazi German occupation of France and the collaborationist Vichy regime. ... The 6e arrondissement is one of the central arrondissements of Paris, France. ...

The underground tunnels and chambers have long posed safety problems for construction in Paris. Quarries sometimes cave in, occasionally resulting in a hole in the ground above and causing damage to buildings. To prevent this, the IGC, Inspection générale des Carrières (General Inspection of the Quarries) was established in 1777 by the government in order to monitor the current quarries and prohibit the digging of new quarries. The IGC did, however, dig observation tunnels in order to provide themselves with better access to the quarries so that they might better monitor, repair, and map the consolidated quarries.

The monitoring and consolidation work has continued to this day. Because of the number of quarries, subway tunnels, train tunnels and sewer tunnels that have been dug underneath Paris, as well as the softness of the stone involved, extra caution is taken when new construction is attempted or new tunnels are dug. However, this did not prevent problems during the digging of Paris Métro Line 14. Line 14 of Paris Métro crosses the center of Paris and currently runs between the Saint Lazare and Bibliothèque François Mitterrand stations. ...

In popular culture

Books

Catacombs of Paris

• In Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum, the Paris catacombs were the resting place of a parchment concerning The Templars.
• Many scenes in Bad Voltage, a 1980s cyberpunk novel by Jonathan Littell, take place in the catacombs.
• In Barbara Hambly's novel Those Who Hunt the Night, which takes place in 1907, two characters investigating the murders of London vampires descend into the catacombs. There they find Brother Anthony, a 600-year-old priest turned vampire, living among the bones of the dead.
• In Robison Wells' novel The Counterfeit, the catacombs are the location of a fictitious Illuminati meeting place. The main characters, Eric and Rebekah, are guided through the catacombs by three cataphiles.
• In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado" (1846), the main character Montressor walls up another man inside a cavity, deep within some catacombs, which are described as being "lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris."
• Max Brooks, in his book World War Z, about a hypothetical zombie epidemic, refers to the catacombs as being used and extended by refugees.
• In Tess Gerritsen's novel Body Double, one of the main characters is lost in the Parisian Catacombs towards the beginning of the book.
• In Interview with the Vampire, vampires are residents of the catacombs in Paris.
• The climax of Marc D. Giller's science-fiction novel Hammerjack takes place in a secret facility located deep in the Paris catacombs.
• In Piratica III-The Family Sea, main characters Art Blastside, Ebad Vooms, Wild Mike and Apollo Leoni escape through the catacombs while running from French Soldiers.
• In William T. Vollmann's Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom, and Urgent Means. The book begins with a section titled "Three Medititations on Death". The first meditation is called "Catacomb Thoughts", and is a reflection on the Catacombs of Paris during a visit Vollman made there.
• In Kresley Cole's novel A Hunger Like No Other vampires used the catacombs as a place of torture.

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1412x964, 390 KB) Beschrijving Photographer: Vincent de Groot. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1412x964, 390 KB) Beschrijving Photographer: Vincent de Groot. ... Umberto Eco (born January 5, 1932) is an Italian medievalist, semiotician, philosopher and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa) and his many essays. ... Cover of Foucaults Pendulum, 1989 Picador edition. ... For other uses, see Knights Templar (disambiguation). ... Berlins Sony Center reflects the global reach of a Japanese corporation. ... Jonathan Littell (born 10 October 1967 in New York) is an award-winning French-American writer who writes mainly in French and now lives both in France and Spain. ... Barbara Hambly (born August 28, 1951) is an award winning and prolific American novelist and screenwriter within the genres of fantasy, science fiction and historical fiction. ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Robison Wells (b. ... Illuminata redirects here. ... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, playwright, editor, literary critic, essayist and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: The Cask of Amontillado The Cask of Amontillado (sometimes spelled The Casque of Amontillado) is a short story, written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in the November 1846 issue of Godeys Ladys Book. ... World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (abbreviated WWZ) is a novel by Max Brooks which chronicles a theoretical zombie apocalypse, specifically the titular Zombie World War, as a series of after-the-fact oral history interviews with prominent survivors. ... Tess Gerritsen is a physician as well as an international and New York Times-bestselling thriller writer. ... Interview with the Vampire is a vampire novel by Anne Rice written in 1973 and published in 1976. ... William Tanner Vollmann (born July 28, 1959 in Los Angeles, California) is an American novelist, journalist, short story writer and essayist. ...

Films and television

• The cult classic Les Gaspards, known in English as The Holes, was filmed in and revolves around the catacombs. It was made in 1974 and stars a young Gérard Depardieu.
• The 2007 film Catacombs is set in the Paris catacombs, even though it did not receive permission to film there. Catacombs features the singer P!nk and the actress Shannyn Sossamon.
• Though not truly filmed in the Parisian catacombs, a Hollywood set created to mimic the catacomb ambiance was used in the production of the music video Slither by the rock band Velvet Revolver.
• In the anime television series Noir, the fifth episode takes place in the Parisian catacombs.
• In the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the catacombs are used by Captain Pheobus and Quasimodo to find the Court of Miracles.
• The Parisian catacombs was on ABC Family's Scariest Places On Earth.

Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu, CQ (born 27 December 1948,  ) is an Academy Award-nominated French actor. ... Alecia Moore (born September 8, 1979), better known by her stage name Pink (also written as P!nk), is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter who first gained prominence in North America in early January of 2000. ... Shannon Marie Sossamon (born October 3, 1978), better known as Shannyn Sossamon, is an American actress, musician and dancer. ... Slither is the debut single by Velvet Revolver from their debut album Contraband. ... Velvet Revolver (abbreviated to VR) is a Grammy Award-winning hard rock supergroup currently consisting of Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass guitar, vocals), Matt Sorum (drums, percussion, vocals) of Guns N Roses, and Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar), of Wasted Youth. ... Animé redirects here. ... Noir ), is a 26-episode anime television series produced in 2001 by the Bee Train animation studio and was licensed for American distribution by ADV Films. ... The Hunchback of Notre Dame (original French title, Notre-Dame de Paris) is an 1831 French novel written by Victor Hugo. ... ABC Family is an American cable television network currently owned by Disney-ABC Television Group, a division of The Walt Disney Company. ... Scariest Places On Earth is a United States/American paranormal television show produced by Triage Entertainment for Fox Family Channel, and now ABC Family, which now owns the rights to the show. ...

Video games

• In the computer game Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, the player has to enter the Paris catacombs via a manhole in order to find a clue that leads to the next part of the game.
• In Deus Ex, set in 2052, the player has to traverse part of the catacombs to reach another area of the city. The catacombs in the game's world are home to a clandestine group of French revolutionaries named Silhouette, who make their home in the German World War II bunker. A news terminal found in a building that serves as the catacombs entrance gives a brief history of the catacombs.
• In Medal of Honor: Underground, one of the missions involves traversing the catacombs in order to escape German authorities after a mission to steal weapons goes bad.
• In the Nancy Drew game Danger by Design, Nancy enters the catacombs to retrieve important clues.
• In Midnight Club II, the Catacombs play host to high speed automobile races, or can be used in a shortcut in above-ground races.
• In Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown, the elite special forces team Rainbow must explore the Catacombs of Paris to locate and eliminate a nest of terrorists within.
• In the Tomb Raider III expansion, The Lost Artifact, Lara Croft explores a hidden area deep within the catacombs in the Paris levels to recover the Hand of Rathmore.
• "Return of The Phantom" (Microprose 1993) used part of the catacombs under the Paris Opera House as the setting for the game's maze and lair of Erik, The Opera Ghost.

Computer and video games redirects here. ... This article is about the video game. ... In the fictional world of Deus Ex, Silhouette is a French antiglobalist group loosely aligned with the United States NSF. Backed by significant yet undisclosed wealth, Silhouette conducts a psychological guerrilla war against the United Nations and transnationals. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Bunkers in Albania A bunker is a defensive military fortification. ... Medal of Honor: Underground is the direct sequel to the World War II hit Medal of Honor. ... For the film, see Nancy Drew (2007 film). ... Danger By Design is the fourteenth installment in the Nancy Drew computer game series. ... For the racing series, see Midnight Club Midnight Club II is the first sequel to Midnight Club: Street Racing, published for the Xbox, PC, and PlayStation 2. ... This article is about the first game in the Rainbow Six computer and video game series. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft is the third game in the Tomb Raider series, and the sequel to Tomb Raider II. It was developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. ... Exterior of the Palais Garnier. ...

See also

• List of museums in Paris
• Mines of Paris

The museums of Paris can be sorted into 3 categories: National museums - (N) Museums of the City of Paris - (VP) The private museums - (P) Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V...

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Catacombs of Paris

• (English) Explographies.com : Catacombs of Paris - Cartography, maps & plans of the catacombs and underground quarries
• (English) Underground Paris — A Paris Catacombs virtual tour with photos
• (English) Urbanadventure — Information source on the catacombs with images, videos and maps
• (English) Catacombs of Paris — some useful information, description, links
• (English) "A tour of the dark world beneath the city of lights" by Murray Battle
• (French) Official website, opening hours, entrance fees
• (English) Catacombs of Paris Museum - The Catacombes de Paris official site, in English.