How many bodies are in the Paris Catacombs?
Updated October 27, 2026
Quick answer
The Paris Catacombs hold the remains of more than six million people, according to Wikipedia; the City of Paris says several million Parisians who died between the 10th and 18th centuries. No exact count exists, because the bones were moved in bulk and stacked by type, not by person.
The largest single source was the Holy Innocents' Cemetery, with about two million burials over six centuries. What you see on a visit is about 800 metres of stacked bones in 217 walls along a 1.5 km route, around 20 metres below the street.
Why there is no exact number
Remains were brought in by the cartload from the late 1780s onwards, from more than one cemetery, and later arranged by bone type: skulls and long bones on the facades of the walls. Individuals were not recorded, which is why sources give the total as 'more than six million' or 'several million' rather than a figure.
How big and how deep the Catacombs are
The ossuary covers about 11,000 m² of former quarries, and the visitor route runs for about 1.5 km at roughly 20 metres below the street, reached by 130 steps down. It is a small part of the network of old quarry tunnels under Paris, which tour listings put at hundreds of kilometres.
- Remains — More than six million people
- Depth — About 20 m below the street
- Visitor route — About 1.5 km
- Stacked bones — About 800 m, in 217 walls
- Ossuary area — 11,000 m²
Has anyone died in the Catacombs?
Only one death has been officially confirmed. In 1793 Philibert Aspairt, a doorkeeper at the Val-de-Grâce hospital, got lost in the tunnels; his body was found eleven years later, a few metres from a staircase out.
Where the bodies came from
The first and largest transfers came from the Holy Innocents' Cemetery beside Les Halles, which had taken burials for six centuries. Other parish cemeteries followed, including Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, the Madeleine, Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux and Errancis, which had received victims of the Revolution. That is why the remains of figures such as Danton, Robespierre and Lavoisier are somewhere in the ossuary, mixed with everyone else's and impossible to single out.
Frequently asked questions
How many skulls are in the Paris Catacombs?
There is no count of skulls. The total of remains is given as more than six million people.
How deep are the Paris Catacombs?
The visitor route is about 20 metres below the street, reached by 130 steps.
How long are the Paris Catacombs?
The visitor route is about 1.5 km. The wider tunnel network is far longer but closed to the public.
Sources