Catacombs of Paris Tickets

• Book the skip-the-line Paris Catacombs Tickets to explore this famous attraction of Paris to avoid the stress of long waiting lines.

• Your Catacombs Paris tickets will allow you to explore the underground rooms and tunnels filled with the bones of over six million Parisians stacked up in walls and columns.

• You can also explore the ossuary, the most incredible and complex labyrinth, and find out why these catacombs were dug in the middle ages and filled with the deceased.

• Learn about the 2000 years of Parisian history with an informative audio guide incorporated in the Catacombs of Paris tickets.

Architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux drew the general design and the height of the Catacombs. He designed two balanced rectangular buildings facing each other on both sides of the path connecting Orleans and Paris. He based his design on the propylaea of old Greece, which were full of hallways placed at the opening to a sanctuary.

The two rectangular buildings got made on four levels: the ground floor, mezzanine, first floor, and the attic. On the main face of the building, a central flight of steps led to a roofed doorway with three passageways on baseless Tuscan columns. These columns got longer on the ground floor. The middle passageway forms a Venetian window.

The Catacombs consists of the only artwork of Jean-Guillaume Moitte which is a carved frieze, elegantly made good-looking with women dressed in polished items and holding medallions. The roof was constructed out of slate. In 1840, the slate roof of the building was replaced with zinc. There were more great changes done to the building later on. The grillwork that stopped the connecting path got different, and the rectangular buildings got reassigned. In 1820, the east part of the building got changed into an army building. It is to separate the town watchman and the divisions of the police force.

• The Catacombs are home to hundreds of miles of tunnels.
• The tunnels are labyrinthine, and it is easy to get lost. There have been reports of people disappearing inside the Catacombs.
• The Catacombs were created in the 18th century to address the overcrowded problem of cemeteries in Paris.
• The Catacombs are home to the remains of almost six million people.
• Robbers once used the walls of the Catacombs to rob a Parisian apartment.
• The Catacombs are open to the public for tours – but get warned, they are not for the faint of heart.
• The Catacombs also underwent many changes in the 19th century, when Paris was undergoing some changes too.
• Mushrooms are grown inside the Catacombs of Paris.
• The French Resistance Movement once used the Catacombs of Paris during the 2nd world war.
• It almost took 12 years to move the remains of the cemeteries in Paris to the Catacombs.

The Catacombs are in the 14th arrondissement, near the Denfert-Rochereau Metro station. But previously, it was located outside the city gates. Here the bones from the Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs cemetery were transferred. Further remains were brought together at the Catacombs of Paris over the years. It includes those who died in mass violent outbursts during the French Revolution. The Catacombs have been a curious place to the royals throughout different periods. In 1787, Lord of d'Artois, also known as Charles X, went down there with the ladies from the Court. In 1814, Francois the 1st, the great ruler of Austria, went there and had a look for them while he was in Paris.

The walls also have graffiti images sourced from the 18th century. After the end of the 18th century, this place became a tourist attraction. It has been open to the public on a regular basis since 1867. In recent times, the throughways connected to the Catacombs got used by the French Revolution in the 2nd World War. Victor Hugo also used his knowledge about the place when he wrote Les Miserables. In 1871, the communards killed monarchists in one room.