The catacombs in Paris have reopened.
 

As of this morning, the catacombs are open again.

For those who don't know, they had been closed 4 months due to vandalism.

Kerouac,

What did they do to control the vandalism?

kerouac - This is good news for many (including me) who were wondering if the closing was going to be very long term. It is a shame that the catacombs were subject to the stupidity of a very few and the impact was felt by so many. We hope to visit this underground world in March 2011.

Thanks for the update.

tC

<i>What did they do to control the vandalism?</i>

I have no idea, but I would presume that they have added more security cameras and reinforced the barriers between the tourist catacombs and the massive Swiss cheese network of tunnels under Paris.

But there are thousands of people running around down there, as this directory of "cataphile" sites attests --
http://www.cyberkata.org/index.php?op=MostPopular

I used to do this sort of stuff myself, not in Paris itself but in the breathtaking underground quarries of Bougival and Houilles (much more dangerous than the Paris tunnels!). I certainly never vandalized anything.

Great.... I had the worst timing, I suppose. I was there the first week of November. Although I've been to Paris many times, THIS was the trip that I was going to make it to the catacombs. My trip companion was willing! In the past, there was always someone in the group who was not interested or thought it was too creepy.

Maybe next time.

Can you buy tickets on-line advance? Or do you purhcase there?

When I was there last year, some stupid father let his two young sons each pick up a leg bone and pose as if dueling while the father took a photo!

cant get tickets in advance?

kornkills - You purchase tickets at the Catacombes OR use a museum pass if you have one.

MademoiselleFifi - Stupid father in more ways than one - teaching his children it's OK to mess with other peoples property and to totally disregard the fact that the catacombes are a CEMETERY!

I am writing this short extract about the Catacombes from a wonderful book I have on Paris - it may interest those who, like me, have never quite made it there.

DOWN AMONG the BONES
It's hard to imagine that 65ft(20m) beneath your feet is a museum and underground cemetery where you can walk through nearly 0.6miles(1km) of underground passageways, cut by human hand into the bedrock of Paris.

Your visit starts at the Square named after a French Commander, Pierre Denfert-Rochereau, who along with a group of brave soldiers defended the town of Belfort during the Franco-Prussian War (1870). The big bronze lion lying down on the plinth is a reduced-size copy of the Lion at Belfort, which symbolizes the colonel's heroic defence.
It was made by Bartholdi, sculptor of the Statue of Liberty -(so pay it some attention!)

After entering through the turnstile a downward climb of 90 steps leads to to the chamber called Atelier. Clandestine meetings have been organized here since the 18th century when witches, smugglers and secret societies all used to conduct their nefarious business here. During WWII members of the French Resistance establised their headquarters here.
The Atelier is part of a quarry and the first part is built of stone walls to support the quarry roof.
Even so, look at the corridor that has been closed off due to a collapse. A worker called Dacure was killed here and the thin veins of red iron-ore are said to be his blood.

Don't wander off like the porter from a nearby hospital did during the Revolution - he got lost and his body found 11 years later, identified by his bunch of keys!

Now you will come to the bone depository(ossary) with the six million Parisians, the majority of which came from the cemetery of the Innocents. It was Napoleon's government that had the bones arranged into the patterns and mosaics that line the corridors today.

From the ossary you come to the Fontaine de la Samaritaine (Well Chamber), and then to the Crypt du Sacellum.
This well was built to provide drinking water for the quarry workers who could not see it in the dark and consequently regularly stepped into it. They nicknamed it the "footbath".
The name Samaritaine refers to the Samarian woman who offered water to Christ.
The Crypt was used as a church. In 1897 it was the scene of a macabre midnight concert resulting in the sacking of the quarry staff responsible for admitting the orchestra and guests.'Marie Antoinettes's friend Mme de Polignac held a banquet here. Later King Charles X organised secret dinners here.

The circuit takes one to the first small monument to be put up in the catacombes - originally a brazier was kept alight because the fire helped to improve the circulation of air.
It's tomblike appearance contains no body.

Walking on you will come to a sharp U-turn with two monuments commemorating victims of the Revolution.
Continue towards the exit. In a small chapel of bones on the left are the remains brought from the Madelaine cemetery which was near Place de La Concorde and the Guillotine. These bones probably contain those of Danton, Robespierre, Mme Roland and maybe even Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI.

Walking along the Galleries maconees et appareilles (inspection tunnel) to the exit. This last leg of the journey is fascinating. Keep looking up: you will walk beneath two massive bell-shaped chambers. These seemingly suspended cone shapes are the results of subsidence. They are extremely dangerous, because as a dome of rock detaches itself in this bell shape it is not detectable from the surface; if a vehicle passes over the remaining thin surface layer it can suddenly find itself 100ft (30m) underground.
The last serious collapse took place in December 1995 in the 9th district of Paris.
As you exit be prepared for a long bag check; In this museum they are more worried about what you might take out rather than what you brought in! The exit is on rue Remy Dumoncel - turn right into Ave.General Leclerc.

That is wonderful news about the Catacombs. We were there just a couple of weeks before and they are incredible.

The museum pass is not valid at the Catacombs, but the admission is not very expensive.

I saw lots of posts by people who want to go there some day, but few by those who have.

Do you think the Catacombs are worth the visit?

Keith

They are absolutely worth the visit. (I've seen mentions of this in many trip reports here and have yet to see anybody write 'we thought the catacombs were boring'.)