Under Paris, extending over something like a third of its area, is a network of quarries and shafts which from the 11th to the 19th C supplied building material to meet the ever-growing needs of the city. Most of them are under the three hills of Montparnasse, Montrouge and Montsouris. Here medieval stonemasons quarried the limestone blocks for Notre-Dame, and from here too came the masses of stone required for Haussmann's 19th C transformation of Paris.
Particularly sought after was the gypsum of Montmartre, which was exported as far afield as America; the last shafts were closed down only in 1860. Also within Paris's underground labyrinth are huge caverns dating from Roman times, road tunnels, underground parking lots and Métro lines; there is even an underground canal, the Canal Saint-Martin, carrying a traffic of barges between Bastille and Place de la République.
This mysterious underground world has fascinated many writers.
Thus a skeleton found at the turn of the century during the construction of a reservoir of water for firefighting under the Opéra-Garnier inspired Gaston Leroux's "Phantom of the Opera" (1910), which in turn has been filmed and presented on the stage, most recently in Andrew Lloyd Webber's successful musical.
The existence of these workings under the city has frequently given rise to problems. In 1774 a cavity 30m/100ft deep opened up in Rue d'Enfer (now Rue Denfert-Rochereau); in 1880 a 20m/65ft stretch of the Boulevard Saint-Michel collapsed; and in 1961 an area of 6 hec/15 acr subsided. From time immemorial, too, this system of underground passages and chambers served as a refuge for thieves and smugglers. During the Second World War they housed the headquarters of the Resistance.
Although entry to the catacombs is now prohibited, they still tempt many caving enthusiasts to explore them, and necrophiliacs have sometimes excavated for human remains. On security grounds many of the entrances are now blocked up.
The only official entrance to the catacombs is at the Barrière d'Enfer, the old customs checkpoint in Place Denfert-Rochereau (Entrance No. 1). The shafts at this point date from Gallo-Roman times. From 1786 until the mid 19th C the abandoned quarries were used to store human remains from the many graveyards in Paris which were cleared to make way for new districts of the city. On the model of the catacombs of Rome and Naples, the remains, arranged according to the graveyards from which they came, were stacked high against the walls of the winding passages.
Address: Paris Catacombes, 1 place Denfert Rochereau, F-75014 Paris, France
Hours:
2pm-4pm; Sun:9am-11am; Sat:9am-11am; Closed: Mon
Always closed on: New Year's Day (January 1), 1945 Victory Day (May 8), May Day / Labor Day (May 1), Bastille Day - France (July 14), Assumption Day - Christian (August 15), All Saints' Day - Christian (November 1), Remembrance Day / 1918 Armistice Day (November 11), Christmas - Christian (December 25), Pentecost Monday (Whit Monday) - Christian, Ascension Thursday - Christian
Tips: For a visit to this hidden underworld it is advisable to take a flashlight.
Group visit and guide tour reserve one day in advance.
Documentation available in foreign languages.
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