Catacombs of Paris

The Catacombs of Paris are a series of underground necropolises that lie under the city of Paris. The Catacombs are a section of renovated stone mines that have been used to dispose of human skeletal remains in the 1700s, later being reassembled into an elaborate ossuary consisting of bones and skulls lining the walls of the catacombs. In the Roman times of Paris, the dead were usually buried in the outskirts of the cities. However, by the 10th century, population problems caused cemeteries to pop up in cities, and eventually population got so out of hand that bodies had to be buried in mass on several occasions.

Catacombs of Paris museum