On our second day in the great city, we visited the Catacombs of Paris. The quick and dirty way to describe it would be as an “underground cemetery,” but that doesn’t seem to do the place justice. There were stacks and stacks and stacks of human bones, stacked fastidiously and with immense care during the 17th and 18th centuries.
As a museum experience, visiting the Catacombs was very unique – I don’t know when and if I’ll ever see piles upon piles of very old bones again in my life.
Skulls:
An underground stone sculpture, of sorts:
More bones:
We walked down hallway after hallway (all underground) of bones stacked just like this:
Graffiti next to ancient inscriptions:
Alexis in front of some inscriptions:
P.S. As we left, a guard searched our bags. Why? Because people actually STEAL BONES from the Catacombs. There were about half a dozen or so bones and a skull behind him on a table that he’d found in peoples’ bags. Seriously? WHO STEALS HUMAN BONES FROM A MUSEUM?