The Le Passe -muraille (passer-through-walls) sculpture in the Paris catacombs
“Paris has another Paris under herself”, said the novelist Victor Hugo, in reference to 1300 miles of sewers, caverns, catacombs, alleys, and intersections underneath the great city. On my trip to Paris we had originally planned to tour the elaborate sewer network in honor of Hugo, who described the medieval labyrinth at length in his masterwork, Les Misérables.
However, the sewers overflowed on the day of my visit, which prompted a hasty closure and expulsion of all visitors until further notice. Naturally, the next best thing to a Paris sewer tour is a visit to the catacombs, the final resting place of 6 million Parisians and the largest necropolis in the world.
