Before us stands the Croix de l’ancien cimeti`ere a silent sentinel. It marks the spot where once stood the Cimetière des Innocents. This wasn’t just any graveyard. It was the largest cemetery in medieval Paris a place of both life and death.
For nearly a thousand years the Cimetière des Innocents served as the final resting place for Parisians. Two million souls are estimated to be buried there. Imagine the sheer scale. The ground itself rose over two and a half meters above the surrounding streets. The weight of the dead was so great. A wall literally collapsed into a nearby restaurant. This horrifying event finally sealed the cemetery’s fate.
Initially a small chapel dedicated to Saint Michel stood here. Later King Louis VI le Gros built a larger church. The church and cemetery were enclosed by walls during the reign of Philip Augustus. It became a bustling hub of activity. Not just a place of mourning. People did business and socialized there. It was so lively. Some even lived amongst the dead.
The Cimetière des Innocents was also famous for its reclusoirs. Small cells where religious recluses lived in seclusion. These weren’t simple hermits. They were often women. They chose this life as a form of penance. They would be walled inside their tiny lodgings. They remained there until death. One famous recluse Alix La Bourgeotte spent 46 years in her reclusoir. Another cell was built after a second woman expressed a desire to live this life of seclusion.
The charniers the ossuaries are also important. These galleries around the cemetery held the bones exhumed from the overflowing graves. The charnier des Lingeres boasted a macabre dance of death. It served as a stark reminder of life’s fleeting nature. It also shows the rich and poor side by side. The rich were buried in wooden coffins. The poor were tossed into mass graves.
The Cimetière des Innocents was finally closed in December 1780 for health reasons. In 1786 the remains were moved to the Catacombs. The church was demolished. Today all that remains of this once immense cemetery is this cross. This modest marker is a somber testament to the millions who once lay beneath our feet. A reminder of the past that lives on.