by Denise Seith

Created on: December 20, 2008   Last Updated: December 08, 2011

Underground Tours in Paris, France

Visitors to Paris spend much of their time looking up- at the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and at a myriad of monuments and tall church towers. But for a different perspective on the City of Light- one filled with history, a bit of intrigue, and just plain fun- venture beneath the streets of Paris. Two of my favorite highlights are actually found under low lighting conditions.

L'Empire de la Mort - Empire of the Dead

In 1785, the Revolutionary Government of Paris set out to improve sanitation and create more prime downtown real estate to enable the city's progress. The best way to do that was to reclaim land that, for centuries, had been used as cemeteries. Thus, the bones and decomposing corpses of 6 million Parisians were emptied from city cemeteries and relocated to subterranean limestone tunnels on the outskirts of town.

The unused tunnels had always been there- since the Romans first quarried for limestone- and made for a perfect final resting place. To make the disinterment less traumatic for the living, priests led nightly processions of bone-laden carts into the tunnels. After a final blessing, the skeletal remains of noblemen and peasants alike were stacked five feet high and as much as 80 feet deep and marked with a plaque.

From a historical perspective, wandering the mile-long underground graveyard today is less creepy and more interesting than tourists might think. Take a small flashlight along and ponder the messages you'll find 60 feet below the streets of Paris: "Happy is he who is forever faced with the hour of his death and prepares himself for the end every day."

Les Egouts de Paris - A Tour of the Paris Sewers

Until 1857, when construction began on the world's first and longest underground sewer system, Parisians had only a rudimentary means of disposing of waste water- mostly into the Seine River and into open air drains. But thanks to Napoleon I and many engineers since his time, 1,500 miles of sewer tunnels now efficiently carry 317 million gallons of water below the busy streets of Paris each day. And curious tourists can see it all in action on a self-guided tour.

Fans of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables will especially appreciate this unusual attraction because it brings to life how the main character, played by Liam Neeson in the movie version, escaped the Paris police by using the sewer system (you can also visit the novelist's home while in Paris). The self-guided below ground tour also provides a fascinating look at the consequences of everyday conveniences such as taking a shower, doing dishes, and flushing. Besides roaming a portion of where Paris's egoutiers (sewer workers) make their living, there's a sewer museum, samples of pipe and conduits, and informative displays on the sewer's history and its computerized operations. Unlike the Catacombs, this underworld definitely does have an odor! But despite the Parisian "eau de toilette" a short visit to Paris's sewers adds interesting insight into what we've all come to take for granted. And although I didn't see any during my tour, it's rumored that there's one rat in the sewer for every Parisian on the surface!

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