Forever After

A little macabre and damp, but strangely alluring, the network of tunnels of the catacombs located beneath the streets of Paris is lined with thousands of skulls and bones carefully arranged to form walls on both sides. Death-dense experience. From mass graves, to wild parties hosted by Charles X, to French Resistance headquarters, they breath history and intrigue... and eternity.

There is the part open to the visitors, but there is actually a whole subculture centered around this place too, with clandestine parties, raves, movie showings... the catacombs are even home to artistic movements, and certain individuals.

There are virtually hundreds of kilometers of underground tunnels, so it is not an easily controlled environment. But whatever goes on there is patrolled by special Catacombs police, also referred to as cataflics. At one point the government restricted the visit of the catacombs because of security reasons.  in 2009 the stacks of bones were vandalized and were scattered along the walking paths. As a result the catacombs were closed to the public indefinitely and an investigation was opened by the Paris prosecutor's office.

Mostly unmapped, covered in graffiti yet venerable...but as you can probably imagine, there is much more to the Catacombs than that. I invite you to continue reading here

Catacombs de Paris: 1 avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy 75014 Paris
Located near the Denfert-Rochereau Metro station
011+33-01-43-22-47-63

Here is more on the underground