The Catacombs of Paris is an underground complex filled with ossuaries or boxes filled with skeletal remains of six million people tucked under Paris, France. An entrance named Barrière d’Enfer or also known as the Gate of Hell, the catacombs was created as part of an effort to remove the city’s overflowing cemeteries in the 18th Century.
History
The construction process began in 1774 after struggling cemeteries cannot fit any more people. Through 1786, night workers rode on wagons covering dead bodies and dumped them into the catacombs to the mineshaft into the catacombs. Then workers would position the ossuaries and organize them, that’s why the mineshaft walls are lined in skulls. These catacombs were forgotten until nearly 100 years, but explorers found the catacombs and setting up meetings within them. In 1873, the catacombs were open to the public.
Fun Facts
The Catacombs were used for spies in the French Resistant Fighter and German bunkers during WWII
The Site has three floors 30 meters under the ground
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20121025-exploring-the-history-of-catacombs
