Today we got up early to visit the Catacombs of Paris. Believe it or not this is a very popular attraction and you must arrive early if you want to get in. The line to get in wraps around an entire large Paris city block and beyond and they only allow 200 people at a time in the tunnels. The Catacombs of Paris were created at the end of the 18th century. The Cemetery of Innocents had been used for nearly ten centuries and had become overcrowded and was causing health concerns for the city. After multiple complaints, the Council of State, decided on November 9, 1785, that removal and the evacuation of the cemetery of the Innocent ones was necessary and the old long abandoned stone quarries around the city were selected to deposit Parisian bones.

The removal of the bones began after the blessing of the place on April 7, 1786 and was continued until 1788, always at night and according to a ceremony made up of a procession of priests who sang the burial service along the way brought the tipcarts filled with bones covered with a black veil. From the eve of a consecration ceremony until 1814 the quarries were used to collect the bones of all the cemeteries of Paris.

Catacombs of Paris available in print at arnojenkins.com