The Catacombs of Paris

The Catacombs of Paris are:

• To be scared in front of the largest Parisian ossuary…
• 20m underground, a real labyrinth where the remains of about six million Parisians are gathered
• These are the skeletons transferred between the end of the fifteenth century and the middle of the nineteenth century, as cemeteries were closed for reasons of insalubrity. Enough to give you goosebumps !
• A tangle of dark galleries and narrow corridors , where the visitor discovers a staging of death with the bones – from the skull to the tibia – arranged in a romantic-macabre setting. For your information, of the 300 kilometres of galleries dug, only a small part can currently be visited
• Reflect on the place of the dead in daily life and remember that in the Middle Ages, the tradition was to live close to the dead
• Recommended for those over 10 years old: thrills guaranteed!

Tips before visiting the Catacombs

• It is especially a visit for teenagers, the youngest may be frightened by the macabre staging of this very large ossuary
• Remember to take a sweater (the temperature is 14° all year round)
• Remember to take a flashlight
• Bring comfortable shoes: route of about 1.5 km
• Be careful, there are 243 steps: the Catacombs of Paris are 131 steps to go down and 112 steps to go up
• Above all, take your tickets in advance, or come to the opening to avoid the long wait at the entrance