THE WORLD'S BIGGEST MUSEUM
Look at the splendid facade of Notre Dame de Paris.
It’s made out of limestone, which formed 40 million years ago, under Paris
and has been extracted for the past 20 centuries.
I don’t know if you knew that, underneath Paris,
there are currently no less than 185 miles of quarries and tunnels.
At night, cataphiles visit this network at their own risk
and don’t always respect it, as you can find litter around.
And also under Paris, however astonishing it may sound,
there’s the largest ossuaries in the world: the Catacombs.
Six million Parisians are buried in the Catacombs.
So, I’d like to take you on this strange and mysterious little tour.
I’ll just put a down jacket on and we’re off!
We're on the grounds of Cochin Hospital in the 14th arrondissement of Paris
and, right underneath us, is a very important quarry.
I'm meeting Philippe Thévenon. - Hello.
You’re president of an association which is fascinated by underground Paris,
the old quarries full of building stones.
How many miles is the network below us?
Including the inner suburbs, about 168 miles remain.
PRESIDENT OF THE SEADACC
It stretches out over 770 hectares and seven arrondissements.
Do you stroll along with a head lamp on? - At first, but that was a long time ago.
Now it’s more about showcasing a heritage
that we discovered while strolling around underground.
As an enthusiast of this underground network,
why did you want to meet us on the grounds of Cochin Hospital?
It’s one of the parts of the network where everything is represented:
from the mining of building stone to General Inspectorate consolidation.
Let’s go then. - Yes.
You really have strange hobbies. - I sure do.
How far down are we going? - 20 meters.
Look! Passive defense communications equipment from 1943.
It’s an original, isn’t it? - Yes, but it doesn't work anymore.
Hello. Yes, we’re being bombed.
No losses for the moment. The civilians are currently safe.
Yes. We’ll call you back in a few minutes. Goodbye, Prefect.
So, this is a very surprising, magical and exceptional site
as we're entering the world of quarrymen,
those people who dug and retrieved the stone, set up supports
and made holes in the ground in Paris.
This geological site is about 46 million years old.
46 million years? - Yes.
What was here then? - The sea. A calm and warm sea.
So, 46 million years ago, Paris was a calm and warm sea?
The beach was under the cobbles. Yes, especially layers of limestone.
It’s moving.
We don’t realize that our surface legacy comes from here.
According to one of Colbert’s reports, 30% of this place and Val-de-Grâce
was used for Notre Dame, 95% for Saint-Séverin Church
and 100% for the Tour du Temple.
Is this a stone that's been extracted? - Yes, we found them on the embankment.
These stones were never used, but were cut back in the day.
How were they taken to the surface? - They were pushed using these logs
to extraction wells which were five meters in diameter.
At the surface, there was a wooden winch
so that a 175 pound man could hoist up one ton of stone.
What was this small well for? For air?
For air, but also so that the workmen could get down and consolidate the quarry.
Right.
Thanks, Philippe. Well done for this little-known passion
which is part of our legacy and needs to be preserved.
Obviously, of course. - Thanks a lot.
Bye, Philippe. - Bye.
CATACOMBS ENTRANCE
This is Paris and a few meters down are the sewers.
Even further down, is the subway, about five or six meters down.
All the way down, this little tunnel gives access to the Catacombs,
around 20 meters below the surface, below Paris.
Let's go!
You don’t know Soldier Décure. He was a soldier under Louis XV
and, one day, he was taken prisoner in the Balearics in Port Mahon.
A few years later, he is set free and hired as a quarryman
here in underground Paris.
In his free time, by candlelight, he starts sculpting
a souvenir of his imprisonment, the Port of Mahon, in the stone here.
Right next to it, he'll also sculpt the barracks.
This very ambitious veteran, Décure,
wants to build a stairway up to the first level of mining.
This is the second level. He'll cut the rock
and unfortunately, there'll be a terrible landslide
and veteran Décure will die right here in the quarries.
I'm under avenue Montsouris in the 14th arrondissement of Paris
where I’m meeting Christian. Hello. - Hello.
You’re in charge of cultural events in the Catacombs.
STOP THIS IS THE EMPIRE OF DEATH
Here, in the 18th century, under Louis XVI in the 1780s,
Paris stinks.
It stinks because people are buried within the city walls in mass graves.
CARNAVALET MUSEUM AND CATACOMBS
Especially at the Holy Innocents' Cemetery.
There were quite a number of functioning mass graves,
and they were filled up one after the other.
Then there's an incident when one of these mass graves explodes
in the cellar of one of the residents who complains about it
and then the decision is made to remove and empty this mass grave
and put the bodies elsewhere.
They wondered where to put them.
In those days, cremation was not...
Allowed by the Church. - Exactly.
So, they found a place outside of Paris,
because, don’t forget, this isn’t Paris, it's the countryside.
We're in the suburbs of Paris.
As from 1786, during the night...
BONES FROM HOLY INNOCENTS' CEMETERY LAID HERE IN APRIL 1786
...the remains from Holy Innocents' Cemetery will be brought here.
They'll be transported here in the night surrounded by priests
and mass will be sung throughout the journey.
Once they reach a pit,
they'll open up the cart and tip all the bones into it.
Yes, but what about the fresh bodies? - There are only bones.
Fresh bodies are left where they are.
Once all the bones are there, they'll stack them.
That's what's so incredible: there are bones
which were stacked here from the 18th century until the 1860s,
which is when Baron Haussmann starts his big renovations in Paris.
Let's go see this. This way? - Yes, let's go.
Is there still time to turn back? - Let’s go!
Oh boy!
It’s impressive. - Yes, it's really impressive.
Six million Parisians were gathered here.
Six million?
Yes, from the 18th century until the reign of Napoleon III.
All these bones were stacked, you can see columns of skulls,
columns of tibias, everything looks tidy on first sight.
However, behind it all, it was thrown in any old how
and it goes as deep as 30 meters of bones.
30 meters deep? - A bit further down, yes.
Apparently, a few famous people were buried here,
but I can’t show you where Robespierre or Lavoisier are buried
or Madame Elisabeth or Madame de Pompadour.
And Marat too. - Yes, Marat.
We know that Marat and Robespierre are here, but not where.
We don't know where they are
because over time… - Robespierre!
And Marat is over here. - Yes, with his head back to front.
What you need to know is that, over time,
the bones were often displaced.
So, to remember where cemeteries are, we put up plaques.
Here it says: "Under the cobbles of St Nicolas des Champs Church,
"laid down in the ossuary in 1859 and transferred in 1859."
It would be over by October.
Here's the Cimetière de l'ouest
which was where Pasteur metro station is today next to Buffon High School.
Victor Hugo's mother was buried in this cemetery.
Maybe the skull and body of Victor Hugo’s mother are just behind this plaque.
There’s a bit of a decor, simply because, in the 18th century,
they tried to glean some knowledge of death.
It also coincided with the start of the Romantic movement.
You could almost imagine the Commander from Don Juan
coming out of the tomb. This decor would be perfect for it.
So, there are people, who are artists and craftsmen
who compose artistic projects out of the bones.
It's surprising, they created a rotunda effect here.
A rotunda of human bones, made up of about 10,000 people.
You can see a cross made out of human skulls.
There's always a religious side to it.
Look, there are even two crossbones.
Maybe it represents a pirate.
People can always use their imagination.
You can always see a certain depth of bones stretching very far out.
Imagine the job. "What are you doing right now?
"I’m stacking bones right now, I'm organizing cadavers."
Christian, how long does this go on for? - Until Napoleon III's reign
which is when Paris goes from 12 to 20 arrondissements
and they decide to empty all the mass graves around the churches.
So, all the mass graves will be emptied and then it will carry on.
This is why some of the plaques mention 1859 or 1860
from churches whose mass graves are being emptied.
Nowadays, we're less used to looking death in the face.
That's true.
Maybe in the 19th century, it wasn’t so brutal as we were used to it, but this!
In terms of our relationship to death in this society,
we don’t want it, we think we are eternal, but in fact, we are not.
And suddenly we realize what will become of us, our future.
Thank you Christian, goodbye. - Goodbye.
At first, the corpses of Parisians were brought to this ossuary,
but then, also the tombstones.
Little by little, families came to collect the tombstones,
except the tombstone of Françoise Géllain which nobody claimed.
She’s from the 18th century
and she devoted part of her life
to getting Knight de Latude out of Bastille Prison.
That's the last tombstone in the ossuary.
I also wanted to show you this.
This is impressive because it represents the work accomplished
by the employees of the General Inspectorate of Quarries.
There was a supporting pole here.
They hid it esthetically
by building this barrel of human bones around it.
This is completely original, look.
This is a very rare place in Paris because it's an altar.
The Catacombs were consecrated before the first bones arrived
so, it's an altar and, every year, right into the 1970s,
on All Saints' Day, they held a Requiem mass here
with a priest and child choir singers.
Underground Paris has its own dedicated special police unit,
police who are fit and used to operating in unusual surroundings,
whether it be on Paris roof tops or underground. Let’s go meet them!
We spend about two days a week in the quarries.
We sometimes work random evenings or nights.
Daytime patrols are about reconnaissance and securing the place
which means checking that there's nobody left in the quarries.
I’ve already found people on a Monday morning,
left behind at the weekend after a party.
There's also an element of clamping down.
If we find anyone we escort them out because it’s an offence.
Part of the work is offering advice, a bit like in the mountains...
HEAD OF SPECIAL INTERVENTION POLICE
...when the mountain police give advice to badly equipped adventurers.
We do the same thing.
Everyone is allowed to go where they want in the mountains,
but here, it's prohibited by a prefectural decree from November 4, 1955.
We regularly find new tags.
Everyone wants to leave their mark.
Is it a leaflet?
These are little bits of information that cataphiles leave behind for each other.
It’s signed by one of the quarry regulars.
We’re going to keep it and put it in the leaflet book.
We're arriving at the room known as "The Library."
People regularly leave books here.
LIBRARY
The quarries can be dangerous.
Everything is fine until you no longer have a lamp.
You could trip and sprain an ankle,
lose your map, have a bad map or many other worries.
You could have some bad encounters.
From time to time, people fight in the quarries.
Some people use the quarries as a meeting place for fights.
After a few years, we know most of what's going on
or what's been happening here.
So, we might not be passionate about it,
but we do like working here.
I'm with Günter Liehr. Hello. - Hello.
Günter's a journalist and he’s spent a long time here,
he's written a lot about underground Paris.
UNDERGROUND PARIS LEGENDS, MYSTERIES, SMUGGLERS, CATAPHILES
What is a cataphile, Günter?
Firstly, they're usually young Parisians.
JOURNALIST
They're fascinated by the bowels of their own towns
and here they suddenly discover a unique place.
Apparently, there are black masses held here
and there are mystical or Gothic people.
You find all sorts in the depths of the Catacombs.
There may be all sorts here, but black masses are far-fetched.
There are people with completely different interests.
Many of them leave graffiti and filth
and paint the walls and old inscriptions.
Others clean up and consider themselves
as custodians of this area which belongs to them.
How do they get in?
Some buildings in Paris have access to the quarries.
For example, Mines ParisTech School has a staircase leading to the quarries
where the students meet for hazing.
Extraordinary things have happened here, like the famous concert of 1897.
There were around 100 guests who came down here
to attend an orchestral concert with around 50 musicians,
some of whom came from Paris Opera and were very conscientious.
They played pieces like Chopin’s Funeral March
or Danse Macabre by Saint-Saëns, things like that.
In 1870 to 1871, the Communards
will take refuge here when pursued by their Versailles enemy.
A few hundred of them tried to hide underground,
either in the sewers, the quarries
or even the Catacombs.
But the soldiers even followed them here and massacred them on site
by torchlight
and in front of the skulls and the several million Parisian bodies.
Here in the Parisian underground network,
there's one real tomb, with a body buried inside it.
It belongs to Philibert Aspairt.
Yes, he was the doorman at Val-de-Grâce Abbey
and, one day in 1793,
he went down to the quarries.
We don’t quite know why.
Maybe out of curiosity, or maybe he wanted to approach
Chartreux Abbey which had some fine bottles in its cellar.
It was only 11 years later, in 1804,
that a few workmen found him.
He was identifiable because, on his belt, he still had
the Val-de-Grâce Abbey keys.
Since then, he has become the icon or patron saint of cataphiles.
Thank you for explaining, Günter. - Thank you, Eric.
Are you staying or coming?
After a while, you're ready to leave. - Let’s leave then!
I'm with Jean-Pierre Gély who's a geologist.
Hello, Jean-Pierre. - Hello.
You were tapping this stone.
Maybe one of these blocks was used on Notre Dame de Paris?
Why not? Absolutely. This is limestone.
GEOLOGIST
It's from the Lutetian era, a period in the history of the earth,
between 49 and 40 million years before our era.
This cut is used as a reference for geologists worldwide.
So, you're looking at a geological monument.
This limestone has different qualities or sounds.
Here the limestone is very hard
and has been mined for cut stone,
whereas above, the stone is soft and has not yet been mined.
The quarryman will leave a mass of stone
to support the quarry ceiling.
It's called the "ceiling"? - Yes.
And to support the ceiling,
he'll fill in the quarry as he moves forwards
which is what this is.
What you see in front of us is rubble,
the quarry mining debris.
Is that soft limestone? - Yes. They're all the soft banks
that weren’t mined and are used to fill the quarry.
Can it stretch out far? - Yes, over tens or hundreds of meters.
Several hundred meters? - Absolutely.
And you just fill it in, like that? - Yes, so that the ceiling is supported
and then, in order to move around the quarry,
we'll build walls out of dry stone,
called "hagues."
The tunnels were actually built by the General Inspectorate of Quarries
to acknowledge the empty quarry spaces
which had been forgotten for centuries.
They tunneled through masses of limestone, right through the quarry
and created viewing galleries to keep an eye on the quarries
and prevent any collapsing.
The work started in 1770 and is still going on now.
Do people regularly visit these tunnels?
They are mapped, regularly visited
and each time there's a new major urban project in Paris,
the Inspectorate gives its opinion on underground stability.
Underground Paris is like Swiss cheese.
Maybe, but Swiss cheese that has been secured.
Thank you, Jean-Pierre Gély. - Goodbye.
That's really impressive. We are 30 meters underground in Paris
and we've reached the water table. Look!
This water is here naturally.
This is the second mining level, it’s quite deep
and the quarrymen who used to work here by candlelight
had their feet in water at some point in the day.
It wasn’t necessarily very pleasant working in such damp conditions.
It was the quarrymen's footbath.
We're in contact with the water table right under Paris.
SERVICE WELL
RUE DES BOURGIGNONS UNDER LE CHAMPS DES CAPUCINS
UNDER VAL-DE-GRÂCE VEGETABLE PATCH
So, my friends, a hundred steps back to daylight.
I’m not unhappy to return among the living.
All that's left to tell you is that it's completely prohibited
to go for a stroll in underground Paris, in the quarries and tunnels.
However, you can visit the Catacombs
from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm.
You can watch this show again on our website:
www.france3.fr, The World's Biggest Museum.
Goodbye!
Subtitles: Babel Subtitling - babelSUB.be