Restoration Breathing New Life Into Paris Catacombs

For more than two centuries, tourists have descended beneath the streets of Paris to visit the catacombs. From floor to ceiling, the tunnels are lined with the bones of up to six million people who lived, worked, and died in this city between the tenth and eighteenth centuries, their remains transferred underground after the city's overflowing cemeteries became a public health crisis. Today they draw 600,000 visitors a year.

Parts of those gloomy passageways have now been given a much-needed face-lift. Over the past five months, architects and masons have been renovating this vast tomb.

Preserving the Macabre

"The goal isn’t to turn it into Disneyland," Isabelle Knafou, the catacombs’ administrator, told reporters. The project includes installing new lighting and ventilation systems.

"We want to preserve the authenticity of the site," Knafou said. Some elements of the labyrinth that were previously unlit will now be visible to visitors.

A Dark History

The network was converted in the 18th century to provide a novel remedy to a gruesome problem. The city’s cemeteries were overflowing, causing sanitation issues.

By the late 18th century, Paris's cemeteries had become a serious public health problem. In 1785, authorities began a systematic transfer of human remains from the overflowing churchyard burial grounds into the abandoned limestone quarry tunnels that had been carved beneath the city over centuries of construction, creating what would become the world's most visited ossuary. The process took decades.

Bones from the 10th to 18th centuries were stacked and arranged in the tunnels. The mile-long section open to the public closes during restoration and will reopen on Wednesday.