Beneath our feet lies a history of Paris. It is a history not of grand boulevards but of repurposed quarries. This is relevant as we stand here at the Quai de Bonneuil.
Let’s journey back to the late 18th century. Paris faced a major public health crisis. Cemeteries overflowed posing a threat to the living. The solution was as ingenious as it was macabre.
Authorities chose the former Tombe-Issoire quarries. These lay outside the capital under the plain of Montrouge. The location was easily accessible at the time. Since the fifteenth century, the quarries were in operation. They became abandoned. They formed a small part of the labyrinth. This extended under the city for approximately 800 hectares.
Charles Axel Guillaumot was entrusted with this delicate task. He was an inspector at the Department of General Quarry Inspection. His mission was to prepare the site. He also had to organize the bone transfers. The department had been founded by Louis XVI on April 4 1777. It consolidated the abandoned quarries. This happened after major ground collapses under Paris in the mid-eighteenth century.
From 1785 to 1787 the first evacuations occurred. The largest cemetery in Paris the Saints-Innocents cemetery was emptied. It had been closed in 1780. This happened after consecutive use for nearly ten centuries. Tombs common graves and charnel houses were emptied of their bones. The bones were transported at night. This was to avoid hostile reactions. The Parisian population and the Church did not need to know. The bones were dumped into two quarry wells. Quarry workers distributed and piled them into the galleries.
After the French Revolution transfers continued until 1814. Parochial cemeteries were suppressed. Saint-Eustache Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs and the Bernardins Convent suffered this fate. This happened in the center of Paris. Urban renovation by Louis-Philippe restarted the work in 1840. The Haussmannian reconfiguration of the city followed from 1859 to 1860.
On April 7 1786 the site was consecrated as the Paris Municipal Ossuary. From that time forward it took on the mythical name of Catacombs. This referenced the Roman catacombs. The public had been fascinated by them since their discovery.
The Catacombs opened to the public by appointment in 1809. Visitors could write their impressions in a register at the end of the circuit. Visits quickly became a success. Both the French and foreigners were enthralled. Over the years the ossuary became the resting place of illustrious individuals. The Count of Artois who became Charles X visited in 1787. He brought a group of court ladies. Francis I the Austrian emperor toured the site in 1814. Napoleon III descended into the catacombs with his son in 1860.
Visiting arrangements changed constantly during the nineteenth century. There were total closings and monthly or quarterly openings. Today the Paris Catacombs are open to everyone. Authorization is not required. They welcome nearly 550000 visitors yearly.
So as we stand here at the Quai de Bonneuil remember the layers of history beneath us. From quarries to ossuaries the ground beneath Paris tells a silent yet powerful story. It is a story of necessity innovation and the enduring human relationship with mortality.