Où est elle, la Mort? in the Catacombs of Paris . . .

The Catacombs of Paris was not on my list of places to visit during our ten-day whirlwind excursion, but, as families do, we each put in our wishlist of experiences and endeavored to accomplish them all.

I'm glad I went . . . but agree with the caveat that this is not a pilgrimage for the faint of heart or spirit . . .

I knew that I would see the mortal remains of thousands of Parisians whose bones had been ceremoniously removed, during the 18th and 19th centuries, from church cemeteries and laid to rest in the Empire of the Dead in the tunnels below Paris.  I understood that, given the nature of medical science in that era, these reburials were deemed essential to the prevention of epidemics, the preservation of human life. Indeed, the artistry with which these bones were arranged is itself testimonial to the reverence with which they, and the souls they represented, were treated.

What I was not prepared for was those long ago voices, long-dead poets and philosophers, speaking to me of death . . .

Where is Death? Always future or past. She is hardly present when, already, she is no longer here.

How often have we heard the admonition to live our lives as though each day is our last here on earth?  In the Catacombs of Paris, we are reminded in the language of the ancient Romans and the Catholic faith and in the language of the Parisians entombed there.

The two-mile visitor's walk (of the 200-300 subterranean miles tranversed by these tunnels) is not entirely the domain of the Empire of the Dead.  The catacombs were originally stone quarries. 

Artifacts from that era include the artesian well at left and the sculpture at right, created by M. Dure, a quarry inspector, in the image of the French Port-Mahon fortress where he had once been imprisoned (early 1700's Minorca?).

If you want to know more about the Catacombs of Paris, Heather Munro's special to the Star Tribune, published in October 2009, makes excellent reading!

Kelsey and the Lion of Belfort

Kelsey and the lion . . .

Metro station:
Place de Denfer-Rochereau and entrance to the Catacombs of Paris

When Kelsey, my lion-haired granddaughter, posed for her dad's photos here (August 3, 2010), little did we know of this lion's story.

He's a replica, actually.  The original Lion of Belfort is perched in the mountains of eastern France, near the borders of Germany and Switzerland--a tribute to the citizens of Belfort who, during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) staged a 100-day resistance under the leadership of Colonel Denfert-Rochereau.  The city, unlike neighboring Alsace and Lorraine, remained in French hands once the war was over.

Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, an Alsatian best known for designing the Statue of Liberty, sculpted both the original Lion of Belfort and its replica.  The Parisian lion was placed atop his pedestal just in time for France's first celebration of Bastille Day--July 14, 1880.  Both lions face east, guarding France from invaders from the east . . .

The square--Place Denfert-Rochereau--was named so, after his death, for the colonel who saved Belfort from Prussian occupation.  Its original name was Place d'Enfer, or Place of Hell, perhaps a reference to the Catacombs of Paris whose entrance is also located there?

Also nearby is Montparnasse Cemetery where Frederic Auguste Bartholdi rests.  I can't believe that, among all the photographs from our brief visit there, there is no picture of Bartholdi's impressive tomb.  Yet one more incentive for us to return to Paris . . .