The haunting history of the Paris Catacombs - Stephanie H. Smith

The Paris Catacombs originated from a public health crisis in 1780 when heavy rains caused a basement wall to collapse near the Cemetery of the Innocents, releasing decomposing corpses and spreading fears of disease through 'miasma' or bad air. For centuries, Parisians had buried their dead in urban cemeteries like the Innocents, following a 9th-century Church policy allowing burials on church grounds. By the 18th century, Enlightenment thinking linked hygiene to health, casting overcrowded cemeteries as public health threats. The solution came from repurposing abandoned Roman-era limestone quarries beneath Paris, which had been collapsing and creating sinkholes. In 1785, Inspector General Charles-Axel Guillaumot was tasked with converting sections of these tunnels into a massive crypt. Despite Catholic Church resistance due to lost burial fees, millions of anonymous bones were transferred at night to avoid public exposure to supposed miasma. The project was distinctly modern, prioritizing efficiency over memorialization. The French Revolution temporarily halted the work, though some executed prisoners from the September Massacres of 1792 were disposed of in the Catacombs. In 1809, Napoleon ordered a small section be curated for public visits, with bones artfully arranged and philosophical quotes displayed. The site became a popular tourist destination symbolizing the 'confused equality of death,' where aristocrats lay alongside laborers. The Catacombs house an estimated 6 million Parisians, with some remains possibly moved as recently as the 1930s.