The topic of class this week was infrastructure, but the subtopic seemed to be death and decay. We visited two cemeteries on Monday, the sewer museum on Tuesday, the catacombs on Wednesday, and a shopping center that stands on what used to be a burial pit today. All in all, I encountered far more skeletons this week than I ever have.
While class this week may not have been as glamorous (no Opéra Garnier, no Jardin du Luxembourg, no Eiffel Tower), I did learn the importance of this kind of infrastructure in the city. My favorite days were at the cemetery and the catacombs.
We visited the Cemetery Montparnasse and Cemetery Pére Lachaise. The cemeteries were not at all what I was expecting. I’m used to American cemeteries, where the headstones are all pretty much the same size and style. Occasionally, there may be one a bit larger or fancier, but there is one headstone for one body, all laid out in neat rows. While American cemeteries feel sterile and cold, I found that the French ones felt wild and natural. Especially in the winding parts of Pére Lachaise, the grass was uncut, the headstones placed every which way and tucked into corners, and the paths seemed to have a mind of their own. French graves are starkly different, too. Families are buried together, usually one coffin on top of another to preserve space. Up to five or six bodies buried in one plot is typical. Sitting atop the coffins might be a statue designed in any style or a small temple. Interestingly, different religious denominations are all buried in the same cemetery. I saw graves with Jewish stars next to graves with crosses.
(I didn’t take pictures of any cool graves because that felt strange to me. I kind of regret it now.)
The catacombs were one of the coolest and most surreal experiences I’ve ever had. I was eight stories underground, surrounded by miles of bones of six million dead. While in Paris I have tried to fully immerse myself in each excursion and truly understand the significance and history of each place, but I still don’t think I’ve fully wrapped my mind around the catacombs. I know that I stood among the skeletons, but relating those bones with people who lived and breathed in the 1500’s–and who would find today’s world as alien as I’d find theirs–is a struggle.
I was expecting bones, but I wasn’t expecting them to be arranged in such an organized fashion. Femurs and skeletons made up the walls, while other less impressive-looking bones were shoved in the back. Sometimes the skeletons were arranged in shapes such as hearts or crosses. This arrangement feels so cavalier to me, but I suppose if you’re a skull among millions of other bones it doesn’t make a difference what position you’re in. There are also dramatic quotes about death and the fleetingness of life which were amusing, but only if you don’t think about them too much. Actually, that really sums up my opinion of the catacombs: very cool, but just don’t think about it too hard.
The Halloween vibes were strong this week, except these weren’t plastic skeletons and graves–they were very, very real. The way death is handled in the cemeteries and the catacombs is starkly different from what I am used to. I think Americans are afraid of death, so they try to be respectful of it. It is cleaned up, privatized, and quieted. Death is something to be murmured about and then pushed aside. From my impression of the French cemeteries, it feels a bit different here. The grandeur of the graves offers personality, conversation, and sometimes humor. It is is louder and more out-there, while still being respectful and honoring loved ones. Since death is so personal (and almost always tied to a religious belief), I think that both methods have merit. Hopefully, though, I won’t encounter another skeleton until Halloween.
