Photo from the Paris Catacombs
National Geographic posted this beautiful photo taken in Les Catacombes de Paris. The incredible "installation" of human remains reopened this week after renovation. I hear people are dying to get in. (Sorry.) Link to National Geographic, Link to Les Catacombes de Paris
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I was there in 2000, one of my fondest memories of my trip to France with my then-future wife. It's a great experience, and slightly weird. It's definitely strange to know that you are standing amongst the remains of millions of people. One of those places where you "feel" the history.
I want to go! That's an amazing picture. Seems to me that they're just piling up by the dozens, David. (My apologies as well.)
I loved visiting it too! I especially liked that it's not a "structured tour" or anything. All the bones are right there beside you and, when I went, there was almost nobody else inside so I really enjoyed the quiet of the rooms. Very creepy cool.
Hehe - I took a picture of exactly the same skulls just before it closed last year...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmclusky/866234378/in/set-72157600938231434/
Hey, that's unfair: Photography is forbidden (at least it was when I was there), and so I never got a chance to shoot the above picture. Now someone else gets all the kudos...
@ Tenn: No, not dozens. Down there are the remains of more than 6 million people. More at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris
In the German version, you'll find the above number.
The green tint on the bones suggests to me the presence of photosynthesis, which indicates the availability of natural light. Can anyone, uh, shed any light on this?
I took a picture of the skulls arranged in a heart when I was there in December 1993. I also decided that the most practical way to dispose of human remains was by mulching them and using them in a lovely garden.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/willcowan/sets/72157603427852192/
there is a link to my photos from what i would call the "real" catacombs.
the ones you dont get a guide book for.
amazing art work down there, very very big network of tunnels.
@StJarna (#4), How funny! I had to compare the photos because I thought they were the same!!!
Voilà some pics from the Catacombes I took last year in Paris.
Another creepy thing down there are the signs; most of them seem to try to stop you from entering "the empire of death".
I have fond memories of the place. The claustrophobia attack that I had on the winding staircase down was just the opening act. How did they get the pictures to come out so well? The ones I took were barely tolerable because it was so dark down there. I especially liked the sharp-eyed security guard at the exit who checked our bags to make sure we didn't help ourselves to any 'souvenirs'.
Absolutely beautiful!
Cities of the Underworld showed this on their Paris episode. Absolutely amazing.
That photo from the top of the post looks like a subsection of my closet.
The light's not so bad if you've got a camera that copes with low light well...
@JulianR (#5), photography was definitely allowed the last couple of times I've been down there but not flash photography - which I can definitely understand! Was glad to have a camera with me that copes well with low light conditions as it's not that bright down there.
That photo from the top of the post looks like a subsection of my closet.
I was thinking more the crisper drawer of my fridge.
I sepend nights inside... Very musterious places, all kind of stuff, amazing life down there:
homeless, mystic, psycho, tourist, cops, catophile, archeo-crypto addicted, pot smockers, gothics...
you lose time and space notion, when you go out you are lost for the day !
hmm, for the record let it be said that it never really was closed as most of the ppl don't go through the official circuit but rather through the really underground one, with it's own entrances, caves ... and skulls !
Strangely, I posted a very similar photo of the SAME TWO SKULLS (!!!!!) on my blog back in October:
http://www.agentdanger.net/interzone/2007/10/paris-paris-qes.html
Considering the fact that there are MILLIONS of skeletons stacked in the catacombs, that's pretty bizarre! (The National Geographic photo definitely looks better, with whitish light instead of yellow.)
Anyway, yes, the Catacombs are incredible--particularly the morbid French poetry posted on the walls, reminding the visitor that life is short.
#4--Crazy, you too! (see my above comment)
I'm remembering now that those skulls were among the best lit, so it was possible to take a halfway decent photo of them without a flash (flash photography being forbidden).
Yeah guys, I know they number in the millions, I was just making an effort at a poor pun. Can I blame sleep deprivation?
we need a new memento mori icon suitable for the digital age....
What you have to remember is that there is "two" catacombs in Paris: the official one, wich is secured and have an average size (1 hours max to visit it) and a forbiden one that goes for *kilometers* under the entire city and behond. The latest is of course the more interesting but you MUST know your way if you dont want to get lost for days in the tunnels. Resistants during WW2, cave lovers or artists use them; police even found a underground (and illegal) movie theater some years ago in it!
If you liked this, you may like Sedlec Ossuary and the crypt of Santa Maria della Concezione, in Rome.
I visited the public bit of the Paris catacombs a while ago, and the attendants there shouted volubly at anyone who used a flash. Though this was nothing in comparison to the woman guarding La Dame à la licorne, who gave a lengthy and vigorous bilingual ear-bashing to one tourist foolish enough to ignore the numerous signs forbidding flashes.
#7, Gunn- there are a few lights down there, so the visitors can see where they're going- there's a bit of algal growth around some of these.
Here are some panoramas from the Bone Church (ossuary) in Sedlec, Kutna Hora, Czech Republic.
http://prague.360cities.net/fs.html?loc=locations/landmark-life/kutna_hora_bones.p36
or http://tinyurl.com/3l3hv5
Rhis reminded me of a great article from a few years ago from Salon entitled "Spelunking the empire of death". It's all about the antics and rivalries of the cataphiles.
@ Stjarna: Maybe I was wrong about the question wether photography was allowed. I was in 1991, and my French was - pardon my French - terrible. In any case, my analog camera wouldn't have been able to cope without flash anyway. I just have to go again, I guess.
Wow, this must be a popular place to take a photo. I have almost the exact same picture too:
http://gallery.drutstein.com/v/europe07/paris/IMG_0410.jpg.html