Paris. The city of love. A hub of fine food, exquisite art, amazing architecture and millions of dead bodies. Yes millions and millions of them. Approximately six million dead Parisians are on under the public eye from 10 to 5 every day and for a small fee and a wait in a long line you can admire some of the finest human remains in the city of love.

Twenty metres below Paris’ sleek and seductive streets, lurk the Parisians that once roamed above. Paris’ Catacombs are made up of Subterranean rooms, tunnels and passageways that creep under the heart of the city in what was originally the quarries. The quarries originally mined to limestone that was used to build the magnificent city above, including Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and city ramparts. But in times of disease spreading due to the contamination of the incorrectly disposed dead and overfilled mass graves in the city, the dead were evicted from the cemeteries of Paris.

During the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, these cemeteries in Paris posed a serious risk to public health. The residents of these tightly packed burial sites had to migrate.  The bones were discreetly exorcised from the cemetery and relocated to the abandoned quarries. Now the are one of Paris’ hottest tourist locations, with visitors lining up for hours each day to stroll through this spooky subterranean graveyard.

You are greeted by a sinister warning Arrête, C’est Ici L’empire De La Mort, or Halt, this is the realm of Death. Throughout the labyrinth of death are poems and other sacred and profane passages, giving visitors the opportunity to truly appreciate the reality of this eerie display.

I, personally, could not take the entire ‘ridiculous amount of dead people’ thing to seriously. Some of the arrangements of skulls and kneebones were just too comical and I will even admit to taking a selfie or two. But some of my fellow skeleton admirers embraced the experience on an entirely different level, some discussing the relevance of each quote to the positioning of dead bits while others shared the stories of the different spirits they were currently communicating with. I wish I was kidding, but these people looked and sounded like they were straight off the Harry Potter set. More specifically, the final film. I’m talking ‘Death Eater’ attire.

So, if you have spent enough time admiring the more glamourous side of Paris, knock on deaths door and allow yourself to appreciate the darker side of the city. You may even get the opportunity  to communicate with generations past. Probably only in French though, you know how Parisians can be…