Catacombs of Paris

Such an amazing experience ! They were super busy but the catacombs are large enough to not feel crowded. The price was not bad and it took about 2.5 .. Read more »hrs to get through. Such a beautiful, unique piece of art and history you can literally be inside of. Please respect your surroundings while there ! Unfortunately I saw so many people not following the rules which are in place to preserve the catacombs. You can still fully enjoy your experience without breaking any.

Definitely an eye opening experience. I would highly recommend to visit this place. It should be considered one of the wonders of the world because yo.. Read more »u just don’t see this kind of stuff anywhere.

This was a great tour to see important history of Paris and France itself, very interesting overall. I bought my tickets a few days in advance and it.. Read more » was the best thing I could’ve done. I went during peak season and the line to buy tickets was 3 hours. I was able to go In front of the line and go right in, due to me buying them in advance.

It was an interesting experience which opened for me a new chapter of the Paris History thanks to the audio guide. I visited it alone but due to the f.. Read more »act that I took the audioguide, the experience was pleasant and it was not creepy or dark at all. The distance was not too long to walk and the souvenir shop was an enjoyable ending of the tour.

Is it weird that I dragged my husband here on our romantic honeymoon? Regardless, the Catacombs of Paris is a must-see for any budding historian. Just.. Read more » FYI: it's dark and gloomy down there, and they don't let you take photos with a flash on. Be sure to rug up because it gets really cold down there - even if outside is reaching 35 degrees Celsius.

It is one of a kind experience. It is a long tunnel and i think it was 45 mins. My 2 yr old and husband loved it. I was amazed at how well this place .. Read more »is maintained for years and how it connected one part of city all in the underground. There was no bad odor or anything. It is very well maintained

The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people in a small part of a tunnel .. Read more »network built to consolidate Paris' ancient stone quarries. Extending south from the Barrière d'Enfer ("Gate of Hell") former city gate, this ossuary was created as part of the effort to eliminate the city's overflowing cemeteries. Preparation work began not long after a 1774 series of gruesome Saint Innocents-cemetery-quarter basement wall collapses added a sense of urgency to the cemetery-eliminating measure, and from 1786, nightly processions of covered wagons transferred remains from most of Paris' cemeteries to a mine shaft opened near the Rue de la Tombe-Issoire. The ossuary remained largely forgotten until it became a novelty-place for concerts and other private events in the early 19th century; after further renovations and the construction of accesses around Place Denfert-Rochereau, it was open to public visitation from 1874. Since 2013, the Catacombs number among the 14 City of Paris Museums managed by Paris Musées. Although the ossuary comprises only a small section of the underground "carrières de Paris" ("quarries of Paris"), Parisians currently often refer to the entire tunnel network as the catacombs. Paris' earliest burial grounds were to the southern outskirts of the Roman-era Left Bank city. In ruins after the Western Roman Empire's 5th-century end and the ensuing Frankish invasions, Parisians eventually abandoned this settlement for the marshy Right Bank: from the 4th century, the first known settlement there was on higher ground around a Saint-Etienne church and burial ground (behind the present Hôtel de Ville), and urban expansion on the Right Bank began in earnest after other ecclesiastical landowners filled in the marshlands from the late 10th century. Thus, instead of burying its dead away from inhabited areas as usual, the Paris Right Bank settlement began with cemeteries near its centre. The most central of these cemeteries, a burial ground around the 5th-century Notre-Dame-des-Bois church, became the property of the Saint-Opportune parish after the original church was demolished by the 9th-century Norman invasions. When it became its own parish associated with the church of the "Saints Innocents" from 1130, this burial ground, filling the land between the present rue Saint-Denis, rue de la Ferronnerie, rue de la Lingerie and the rue Berger, had become the City's principal cemetery. By the end of the same century "Saints Innocents" was neighbour to the principal Parisian marketplace Les Halles, and already filled to overflowing. To make room for more burials, the long-dead were exhumed and their bones packed into the roofs and walls of "charnier" galleries built inside the cemetery walls. By the end of the 18th century, the central burial ground was a two-metre-high (6.6 ft) mound of earth filled with centuries of Parisian dead, plus the remains from the Hôtel-Dieu hospital and the Morgue; other Parisian parishes had their own burial grounds, but the conditions in Les Innocents cemetery were the worst. A series of ineffective decrees limiting the use of the cemetery did little to remedy the situation, and it was not until the late 18th century that it was decided to create three new large-scale suburban burial grounds on the outskirts of the city, and to condemn all existing parish cemeteries within city limits.

This place was sealed off, but I managed to press my camera through the bars of the gate and shoot this picture. Photo taken in the crypt of Paris

It was a great experience. We were able to use audio during the pandemic--maybe this is a recent change? The only thing that could make this tour bett.. Read more »er would be being down there alone. It loses a lot of it's gravity and charm when people are laughing and yelling.

A unique place definitely worth seeing. Great lesson on Paris history/human culture in general. Staff is very friendly. It gets slippery, so remember .. Read more »to wear proper shoes. Memento mori!

Simply amazing. Visiting this catacombs is a mystical experience and you feel disconnected to the real world while walking in the middle of this ancie.. Read more »nt human remains. I think it's definitely a must if you are in Paris. Book your tickets on the website!

Interesting place but I'd recommend this place only if you've never visited any catacombs. If you already visit one you can skip it. It is cold under.. Read more »ground, so you have to visit it in a hot day or wear coat in winter.

Very cool place to visit. Be prepared for the stairs as there are quiet a few. Nice way to escape the summer heat

Place is more than interesting. That feeling when you're walking through the tunnels and having an opportunity to see that much things is... positivel.. Read more »y strange? Only bad thing is waiting queue. Had to wait 2 hours before even being able to buy the ticket and go down and that is the only reason for not giving 5 stars.

Very interesting. It's a shame that there are no audio tours during the Corona pandemic, but there's nothing they could do about that. We were very h.. Read more »appy to be able to visit!

Nice one hour visit to learn more about the history of Paris. It tells the story of the geological past of Paris through the years and how it evolved .. Read more »to be a tomb for almost 2 million Parisians who died around 200 years ago. When I visited there were kids visiting as well, but it's definitely not for the sensitive people. There's some walking involved and it's ba bit cool.