Catacombes de Paris
The Catacombs of Paris (French: Catacombes de Paris, ) are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people. Built to consolidate Paris's ancient stone quarries, they extend south from the Barrière d'Enfer ("Gate of Hell") former city gate. The ossuary was created as part of the effort to eliminate the effects of the city's overflowing cemeteries. Preparation work began shortly after a 1774 series of basement wall collapses around the Holy Innocents' Cemetery added a sense of urgency to the cemetery-eliminating measure, and from 1788, nightly processions of covered wagons transferred remains from most of Paris's cemeteries to a mine shaft opened near the Rue de la Tombe-Issoire.
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Key facts
- Created
- 1787
- Visitors
- 601 900 visitors in 2019
- Location
- 14th arrondissement of Paris
- Official website
- www.catacombes.paris.fr
What to know
The ossuary remained largely forgotten until it became a novelty-place for concerts and other private events in the early 19th century; after further renovations and the construction of accesses around Place Denfert-Rochereau, it was opened to public visitation from 1874. Since 2013, the Catacombs have numbered among the fourteen City of Paris Museums managed by Paris Musées. Although the ossuary comprises only a small section of the underground mines of Paris, Parisians often refer to the entire tunnel network as the catacombs.
On your route
Driving through France or Belgium? Vaut le Détour places this stop on your itinerary with your real arrival time, a lunch spot open at that hour, and fuel or charging.
Nearby
- château de Versailles, 15.9 km away
- Bastille, 3.4 km away
- Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou, 3.3 km away
- palais des Tuileries, 3.1 km away
- palais du Luxembourg, 1.6 km away
- jardin des Tuileries, 3.4 km away
- École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, 2.5 km away
- château de Vincennes, 7.6 km away
Frequently asked questions
- What is there to see near Catacombes de Paris?
- Nearby: château de Versailles (15.9 km), Bastille (3.4 km), Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou (3.3 km), palais des Tuileries (3.1 km). Each one can become a detour on your route.
- How do I buy tickets for Catacombes de Paris?
- Tickets for Catacombes de Paris are sold online (Tiqets ticketing, instant confirmation, tickets on your phone). The booking link is on this page.
- When was Catacombes de Paris created?
- Wikidata gives 1787 as its date of creation or foundation.
- How many people visit Catacombes de Paris?
- The latest visitor count recorded in Wikidata is 601 900 visitors in 2019.
Facts and key figures: the Wikipedia article “Catacombs of Paris” (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata (CC0), retrieved on 2026-08-05. Opening hours and prices are deliberately left out: they change too fast to be reliable anywhere but the official website.