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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2015 18:48:12 GMT
There was an excellent report here about the catacombs six years ago, but most of the photos have disappeared, so I hope that this will be useful. I don't usually do reports of the standard tourist sites, but today I was riding the 38 bus line just as it passed the entrance to the catacombs, which were opening 10 minutes later. I saw that there were no more than about 50 people in line, so I jumped off the bus to join the queue. In recent months, I had seen the line wrapping itself around the entire city block, due in part to the American horror movie that was released last year about them.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2015 18:58:35 GMT
I completely understand why lighting is an absolute requirement now. But the very first time I went to the catacombs in 1971, this is where the electric lighting ended. And of course the lighting in the first section was much dimmer than it is now. At the same time you bought your ticket in those days, you could also purchase a candle and a box of matches for 1 franc. As I walked through the next section, I found it difficult to imagine that I had walked through all of that part all alone and with just a candle. Even though you feel there is a big crowd before you enter, the crowd just disappears once you are in the corridors. I will admit that there was no time when I felt completely alone today since I could hear other people within 20 metres even if I couldn't see them, but back in those days, there were 20 times fewer visitors and you really felt completely alone.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2015 19:10:10 GMT
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Post by whatagain on Nov 10, 2015 20:03:41 GMT
There is one place I like where the bones are arranged in a drum-like form.
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Post by htmb on Nov 10, 2015 20:31:31 GMT
I remember seeing those long lines of people stretched around the block. How lucky for us that you made a trip inside. This is not a place I ever wish to visit, so I'm very happy to have your photos to view.
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Post by mossie on Nov 10, 2015 20:34:57 GMT
I'm with you htmb
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2015 22:07:44 GMT
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Post by htmb on Nov 10, 2015 22:09:32 GMT
Kerouac, I've never heard about the artistic carvings. Do you know why they are down there in the catacombs?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2015 22:13:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2015 22:38:51 GMT
I have to admit that every time I have come here every 10 or 15 years since 1971, the route has changed, and it will probably continue to change. There are so many gates and closed passages down there, all lined with bones. A whole lot of the changes took place when the catacombs were closed for 7 months in 2005 for renovation and again for several months in 2008. They design the route to last about one hour from start to finish because frankly, that is plenty for most of us. I have read that there are plans for a new entrance at Denfert Rochereau in the coming years and a new exit on the unknown street 1.7km away. This being the 21st century, I would imagine that elevators will be part of the project since the physically disabled have not yet been able to experience the joy of a visit.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2015 22:50:37 GMT
Kerouac, I've never heard about the artistic carvings. Do you know why they are down there in the catacombs? The carvings were made between 1777 and 1782 by a quarryman named Décure. He was one of the workers arranging the bones and the carvings were done in his free time. They represent scenes of the forts of Minorca, where he was a prisoner of the English in the Balearics. He wanted to complete this hobby by building a stairway to an upper level but was killed in a cave-in while doing this.
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Post by htmb on Nov 11, 2015 1:09:57 GMT
Fascinating! Thanks for that bit of information.
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Post by bjd on Nov 11, 2015 7:13:58 GMT
Well, better you than me visiting this tourist attraction. I had of course heard of it but had never realized how big it is.
I guess so many of these bones were put away because all the cemeteries were more or less in the centre of Paris and had to be moved for buildings. If I'm not mistaken, the Cimetière des Innocents was in the very centre, near Les Halles, so the land was valuable.
I wonder how long bones last? I realize that old bones of various homo something are found but those must be under special dry conditions.
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Post by chexbres on Nov 11, 2015 9:10:48 GMT
Thanks for the photos, and for the fact that I really don't feel compelled to visit the catacombes any more, even though there is an awful lot of history involved. I really wonder how many people are as thrilled as they thought they should have been, once their visit is over. Way more tibias than skulls - I thought it would be the opposite, but now that I think about it, there is only one skull to a customer, and so many other available bones...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 11:31:39 GMT
Since the tibia supports the entire body, it is probably the strongest and most solid of our bones, so it would probably last the longest.
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Post by nycgirl on Nov 11, 2015 14:42:08 GMT
Fascinating, but super creepy. I think I am ones of those persons of "nervous disposition" that the sign mentioned and this isn't the place for me.
I wonder, do the French love bloody horror movies as much as Americans do?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 14:52:09 GMT
The younger generation has been trained to like them.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 11, 2015 15:12:52 GMT
Since the tibia supports the entire body, it is probably the strongest and most solid of our bones, so it would probably last the longest. I didn't know that! I would have guessed the femur, so I went to Wikipedia. It corroborated your statement, but the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons says Your thighbone (femur) is the longest and strongest bone in your body. Several other sites said the same. Still, it would seem the tibia would routinely receive more shocks in the mere act of walking. Whatever ~ great report and I echo others in saying I'm glad I didn't have to do the tour, as I felt quite claustrophobic just looking at your pictures. You showed the bones green from moisture, but is there any kind of climate control down there? Also, didn't you feel icked out by the idea of breathing old bone dust, considering what some of those people must have died from? You'd think they'd issue surgical masks to visitors.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 11, 2015 15:17:58 GMT
That was wonderful Kerouac and I am more resolved than ever I want to go through the experience! In one of my many books on Paris there is a little map of the route. It runs under a whole block of buildings before going under Villa Adrienne, Rue Sophie Germain, Rue due Couedic, before exiting on Rue Re`my Dumoncel. Is this the exit you arrived at? The well you showed us could be Fontaine de la Samaritaine, which provided drinking water for the quarry workers. My book also mentions two large bell-shaped chambers. If you look up the are seemingly suspended cone shapes as the result of subsidence and could be extremely dangerous if a piece of rock detaches itself in this bell-shape. It will not be visible from the surface and if a vehicle were to pass over this thin layer it could find itself 100ft-30m underground. The last collapse took place in 1995 in the 9th. Maybe more since this book was printed??? Glad you're safe Kerouac!
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Post by htmb on Nov 11, 2015 15:31:37 GMT
I would go with you, Tod, if my arm was twisted enough, but I really wouldn't volunteer to go down there because I know I'd feel claustrophobic. I could do it if I distracted myself enough, but even reading these posts is making me feel a bit hemmed in.
The green on the bones was quite unexpected.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 15:38:25 GMT
I'm sure there was no green before they added the electric lighting because there would be no possibility for chlorophyll to develop.
Yes, tod, there are two bell shaped chambers but they are impossible to photograph because the empty cone just goes up to total blackness. I remember the last collapse in the 9th. I believe it was on rue Papillon, which was closed to vehicular traffic for about two years. Normally, collapses in the past have been in Montmartre. Even though I am not quite in Montmartre, I had to obtain "quarry certification" when I bought my place, indicating that the building is not on top of an old quarry.
Bixa, I'm sure there are no health problems from the bones because the workers surely boiled them to make soup before stacking them up.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 11, 2015 15:44:20 GMT
You are one sick puppy.
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Post by htmb on Nov 11, 2015 15:52:41 GMT
Walking through with just a candle must have made quite an impression.
I'd like to know approximately how much time it took you to meander your way through the corridors. Also, how was the air down there? Did it feel well-ventilated?
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Post by mich64 on Nov 11, 2015 16:18:45 GMT
Great report Kerouac! I usually show my husband some of the threads on Anyport, but I think I will wait to show him this one as I know he wants to visit the Catacombs. I do not think this is what he is expecting to see. We attempted to visit a few years ago, took the subway and upon arriving found it to be closed, due to vandalism I think?
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Post by Don Cuevas on Nov 17, 2015 0:31:24 GMT
I've never visited the much smaller, but perhaps more gruesome Museo de Las Momias, in Guanajuato, Mexico, and never hope to see it or the catacombs of Paris.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2017 14:57:44 GMT
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Post by htmb on Feb 6, 2017 15:22:20 GMT
Very interesting article. I have very mixed feelings about personally venturing down into those underground spaces.
I'd never thought about who might own the space under a piece of property or a building. It seems a bit strange that a homeowner would also be the owner of a cavernous space underneath their building.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 14, 2017 17:16:03 GMT
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Post by mossie on Jun 14, 2017 18:30:06 GMT
Boys will be boys, hope they learnt a lesson.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 14, 2017 18:49:29 GMT
As a participant in certain expeditions about 25 years ago -- not in Paris but in a number of underground networks in the suburbs -- on two occasions I felt that I was in danger of death even though we had a knowledgable group leader. One time we crept through a half flooded mining shaft with rotten beams before arriving in more secure chambers, and another time in a huge quarry with 3 gigantic levels, we broke through into a lower level where we had to drop from the ceiling onto a pile of dirt without having any idea of how we would later exit. After crawling from chamber to chamber with our pitiful electric torches we reached a dead end where somebody suddenly said "there doesn't seem to be much oxygen here" and whether or not it was true, I certainly started to feel suffocation coming over me. We finally found a new hole in the ceiling that could be reached by boosting someone on another person's shoulders, and I can assure you that I was not one of the last people out of there. (How did the last person get out?) Then were were on the level where we had started but with no idea of where we were. In our defence, we were not quite 100% stupid (only 95%) and had left a candle burning at a few major intersections, so it did not take too long to find one of them. Now this was a group of about 20 people, but if you want to know how truly foolhardy I can could be, not too longer after that experience, I was the group leader of just two other friends on a new visit to the same place. At least I stayed completely on the path that I knew and only penetrated the tunnels for about one kilometre, but my friends were scared shitless. But as Mossie wisely puts it, "boys will be boys." I searched the web for a photo of part of these quarries, but keep in mind that they do not look the same with just a candle or two. www.urban-exploration.com/images/carriere/saintleu_37.jpgAnd you do need to watch your step! www.urban-exploration.com/exploration-urbaine/images/carriere/carriere_bougival_saint_michel_09.jpg
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