Catacombs of Paris

The Catacombs of Paris are identifiable by the stark stone sign above the entrance that reads, Arrête! C'est ici l'empire de la Mort. Beneath the city streets lies a labyrinthine ossuary containing the remains of over six million Parisians. When the city’s cemeteries began overflowing in the late eighteenth century, authorities moved the bones into these former limestone quarries. During the move, officials eventually stopped treating the remains as anonymous piles, instead stacking skulls and femurs into neat, decorative walls.