Approximately 65 feet below the streets of Paris, France, lie the final resting place of over six million Parisians.
The Paris Municipal Ossuary, better known as the Catacombs, was established in 1786 in the tunnels of former quarries after a major public health crisis caused by the city’s cemeteries forced authorities to relocate their contents. The bones were carefully arranged with the façade consisting of rows of femurs and tibiae alternating with skulls, and the remaining bones were piled behind this wall. In 1809, the Catacombs were opened to the public and receive over half a million visitors each year.