From the Old Things in Paris series: Ange and Old Bones
Parisians like old things so much, they even save their old bones. These are probably from the 17th or early 18th century. For many miles, the bones of city dwellers gone by are piled into a tunnel system underneath the streets of Rive Gauche -- the south or left bank. One day Ange and I thought it would be fun to take nudes down there. With a little ingenuity, we managed to be alone long enough to create the pictures. These particular bones are dug out of a church cemetery, during a phase in history when cemeteries around the city were being dug up to get rid of them and make room for the living. The first cemetery to go, Les Innocents, was a series of mass graves on Rive Droight, where more than six million people had been buried or more accurately, thrown, since around the 12th century AD (some accounts say 5th century -- it may have been used before it was consecrated by church authorities). It was a stinking mess, but the church was making a lot of money, a fortune, really, because they had people convinced that you couldn't get into heaven if you weren't buried there. Finally the king decreed that a vegetable and spice market would be built at that location, and starting in 1786, the bones were moved down to some renovated old mines beneath the city. Gradually most of the other old church cemeteries, with a few exceptions, were dug up and the bones were hauled down and eventually stacked, or thrown in heaps behind the neat facade. Some of these piles stretch back for 50 feet, and the tunnel system is so complex that from non-public areas it's possible to wander off and die. The articles below give more details.
6 thoughts on “From the Old Things in Paris series: Ange and Old Bones”
The Oracle said:
Jan 01, 2000: Aquarius – Monthly
As a journalist, I am trained to stand in the sidelines of life and observe its events. But as a person, I have taught myself to enter life as fully as possible and participate directly. For many years, I struggled with this division between person and journalist, often getting directly involved in the events of my stories, at times feeling guilty about it, at times being accused of “lack of objectivity” while knowing objectivity is impossible, and yet at other times feeling like I was just pretending to be alive in the times I was merely a writer/observer. This kind of crisis is typically Aquarian, for it is often the way of this archetype to detach and observe, while craving real emotional contact, participation and surrender to the events of life. If you live fully but feel you are “missing something,” that is a big clue. Several years ago, I received the Indian sacrament of Darsan (pronounced ‘darshan’) from Ammachi, a sage who is viewed with the respect of an enlightened master by her culture and her followers. I went as a seeker, but as a journalist I am always in observation mode as well, and ready to tell the story. The long evening culminated in a marriage, and I went back inside to watch the ceremony. The couple was wed, the orchestra of swamis and disciples raised the strange Eastern music to a thundering, joyous climax, the packed crowd swirled in a circle, and Ms. Ammachi stood in her sweet, childlike majesty and tossed pounds of blessed flower petals onto the mass of people. The Hindus sure put on an amazing show! I stood next to the stage, at the dividing line “the event itself” and “those experiencing it” where I like to hang out. It was there, in that moment, that the internal wall within me burst open. I was moved to a flood of tears, at once seeing and being, watching and engaging, knowing and believing, all with total freedom and trust in myself; and in an instant knew that I was now free to live fully, at once, as participant and fully as observer, and that I could now observe as one directly involved and report my findings to the human race. In the year to come, my Aquarian cousin, you may feel like you’re at the last stand between two colliding systems of thought or belief. They have been in an uncomfortable war for some time, and it is a war against yourself. What you are really trying to do is find a way to make them both real at once. Many say it cannot be done. It is possible, as long as you remember that you don’t have to sacrifice one or the other aspect of who you really are in order to be a real person; or rather, that you don’t have to sacrifice anything.
I’ve been bakin’ on old bones lately. Cemeteries, burnings, and the forest animals.. There are many ways to go. Is it identity that allows folk to covet the dead? If we were hungry, would we not get rid of the space that honor takes? Is our honor not just a backward, egoistic, display of ignorance? Could the land not be used within a more productive capacity? ..could people cease to try to project themselves beyond their alloted time? Would I, or You, given our momentary situations, bunch up the flow with our baggage, or would I let it all run, laughing the whole way?!
Running with thought (a tad more dangerous than scissors.. )
LOVE
Now that is interesting — the curse. I guess both the bones and the monarchy had to go. By the 18th century the monarchy was just one huge parasite on the population, hmm, just like our current corporatist state.
Ange plays a fine Persephone. I saw her recently…she is doing great.
Finally the king decreed that a vegetable and spice market would be built there, and starting in 1786, the bones were moved down to some renovated old mines beneath the city.
Given what happened in 1789, that probably wasn’t a wise plan.
GOOD FREND FOR IESVS SAKE FORBEARE,
TO DIGG THE DVST ENCLOASED HEARE!
BLESE BE Ye MAN Yt SPARES THES STONES,
AND CVRST BE HE Yt MOVES MY BONES.
max
[‘Note to self…’]
I see you found Persephone.
(09-16) 09:49 PDT PARIS, France (AP) —
Paris’ underground bone collection, the catacombs, has been closed to the public indefinitely after being vandalized.
Ordinarily, the creepy collection of human remains — cleared from city cemeteries long ago — is orderly, with bones piled in stacks along underground tunnels. But a post-vandalism photo in Le Parisien newspaper showed bones and skulls scattered along the walking paths.
Isabelle Montagne, the spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, said Wednesday that an investigation has been opened into the weekend incidents. The catacombs have been closed because the littered site has become hazardous, she said. Montagne and a police spokesman declined to give details of the damage.
The catacombs are a vast underground network tunnel of tunnels holding the bones of more than 6 million Parisians. Near the end of the 18th century, Paris’ cemeteries were filled to capacity, so city officials decided to transfer the contents of graves to quarries.
The section open to the public is only a sampling of the secret world: More than 300 kilometers (186 miles) of tunnels like beneath the city. The catacombs are visited by 257,000 tourists each year, according to city historical officials.
The Oracle said:
Jan 01, 2000: Aquarius – Monthly
As a journalist, I am trained to stand in the sidelines of life and observe its events. But as a person, I have taught myself to enter life as fully as possible and participate directly. For many years, I struggled with this division between person and journalist, often getting directly involved in the events of my stories, at times feeling guilty about it, at times being accused of “lack of objectivity” while knowing objectivity is impossible, and yet at other times feeling like I was just pretending to be alive in the times I was merely a writer/observer. This kind of crisis is typically Aquarian, for it is often the way of this archetype to detach and observe, while craving real emotional contact, participation and surrender to the events of life. If you live fully but feel you are “missing something,” that is a big clue. Several years ago, I received the Indian sacrament of Darsan (pronounced ‘darshan’) from Ammachi, a sage who is viewed with the respect of an enlightened master by her culture and her followers. I went as a seeker, but as a journalist I am always in observation mode as well, and ready to tell the story. The long evening culminated in a marriage, and I went back inside to watch the ceremony. The couple was wed, the orchestra of swamis and disciples raised the strange Eastern music to a thundering, joyous climax, the packed crowd swirled in a circle, and Ms. Ammachi stood in her sweet, childlike majesty and tossed pounds of blessed flower petals onto the mass of people. The Hindus sure put on an amazing show! I stood next to the stage, at the dividing line “the event itself” and “those experiencing it” where I like to hang out. It was there, in that moment, that the internal wall within me burst open. I was moved to a flood of tears, at once seeing and being, watching and engaging, knowing and believing, all with total freedom and trust in myself; and in an instant knew that I was now free to live fully, at once, as participant and fully as observer, and that I could now observe as one directly involved and report my findings to the human race. In the year to come, my Aquarian cousin, you may feel like you’re at the last stand between two colliding systems of thought or belief. They have been in an uncomfortable war for some time, and it is a war against yourself. What you are really trying to do is find a way to make them both real at once. Many say it cannot be done. It is possible, as long as you remember that you don’t have to sacrifice one or the other aspect of who you really are in order to be a real person; or rather, that you don’t have to sacrifice anything.
I’ve been bakin’ on old bones lately. Cemeteries, burnings, and the forest animals.. There are many ways to go. Is it identity that allows folk to covet the dead? If we were hungry, would we not get rid of the space that honor takes? Is our honor not just a backward, egoistic, display of ignorance? Could the land not be used within a more productive capacity? ..could people cease to try to project themselves beyond their alloted time? Would I, or You, given our momentary situations, bunch up the flow with our baggage, or would I let it all run, laughing the whole way?!
Running with thought (a tad more dangerous than scissors.. )
LOVE
Now that is interesting — the curse. I guess both the bones and the monarchy had to go. By the 18th century the monarchy was just one huge parasite on the population, hmm, just like our current corporatist state.
Ange plays a fine Persephone. I saw her recently…she is doing great.
Finally the king decreed that a vegetable and spice market would be built there, and starting in 1786, the bones were moved down to some renovated old mines beneath the city.
Given what happened in 1789, that probably wasn’t a wise plan.
max
[‘Note to self…’]
I see you found Persephone.
(09-16) 09:49 PDT PARIS, France (AP) —
Paris’ underground bone collection, the catacombs, has been closed to the public indefinitely after being vandalized.
Ordinarily, the creepy collection of human remains — cleared from city cemeteries long ago — is orderly, with bones piled in stacks along underground tunnels. But a post-vandalism photo in Le Parisien newspaper showed bones and skulls scattered along the walking paths.
Isabelle Montagne, the spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, said Wednesday that an investigation has been opened into the weekend incidents. The catacombs have been closed because the littered site has become hazardous, she said. Montagne and a police spokesman declined to give details of the damage.
The catacombs are a vast underground network tunnel of tunnels holding the bones of more than 6 million Parisians. Near the end of the 18th century, Paris’ cemeteries were filled to capacity, so city officials decided to transfer the contents of graves to quarries.
The section open to the public is only a sampling of the secret world: More than 300 kilometers (186 miles) of tunnels like beneath the city. The catacombs are visited by 257,000 tourists each year, according to city historical officials.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/16/international/i094947D00.DTL&type=travel#ixzz0YmppBk5j