Catacombes De Paris 1861

Here we see one of Felix Nadar’s photographs of the Catacombs of Paris taken in the 1860s. Nadar, a pioneering photographer, captured these underground ossuaries at a time when Paris was undergoing massive urban transformation. These catacombs, filled with the remains of over six million people, speak volumes about class and history. Originally quarries, they became the final resting place for the overcrowded cemeteries of Paris, a solution that displaced the dead of the poor into anonymous piles. Nadar's daring use of artificial light pierces the darkness, revealing the skulls and bones stacked in macabre displays. While ostensibly a feat of engineering and photographic skill, this image evokes questions about mortality and the societal structures that determine who is remembered and how. It asks us to consider the lives and identities of those reduced to mere bones and how this reduction reflects a broader narrative of marginalization and erasure.