Two Death Traditions on the Record: The Paris Catacombs and the Day of the Dead

By Weird Burial Stories Editorial Desk · 2026-10-01

How Paris moved its dead underground in the late eighteenth century, and how UNESCO lists Mexico's festivity dedicated to the dead.

Here are two very different ways of living with the dead, and both can be traced to sources you can read for yourself. The first is a city’s answer to a public health problem. The second is a living festivity that UNESCO has placed on its list of humanity’s intangible heritage.

Table of Contents

1. The Catacombs of Paris
2. The Day of the Dead
3. Frequently Asked Questions
4. Conclusion

The Catacombs of Paris

The official Paris Catacombs site says the ossuary began in the late eighteenth century, “when major public health problems tied to the city’s cemeteries led to a decision to transfer their contents to an underground site” (Paris Catacombs, history). The first evacuations ran from 1785 to 1787 and concerned the Saints-Innocents cemetery, the largest in Paris. On April 7, 1786, the site was consecrated as the “Paris Municipal Ossuary,” and it took the name catacombs as a reference to the Roman catacombs (Paris Catacombs, history).

The tunnels sit about 20 meters down, and the site says it was opened to the public starting in 1809 (Paris Catacombs, history). Today, in the museum’s own words, visitors “will discover an ossuary containing the remains of several million Parisians” (Paris Catacombs).

The Day of the Dead

UNESCO inscribed the “Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead” on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008. UNESCO had first proclaimed it in 2003. In UNESCO’s words, “As practised by the indigenous communities of Mexico, el Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) commemorates the transitory return to Earth of deceased relatives and loved ones” (UNESCO).

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How many people are in the Paris Catacombs?
A: The official site gives no exact count. It says the ossuary holds “the remains of several million Parisians” (Paris Catacombs).

Q: Why did Paris move its dead underground?
A: The Paris Catacombs site says the move followed major public health problems tied to the city’s cemeteries in the late eighteenth century (Paris Catacombs, history).

Q: When did UNESCO recognize the Day of the Dead?
A: UNESCO inscribed the “Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead” in 2008, after first proclaiming it in 2003 (UNESCO).

Conclusion

One tradition started as a sanitation decision and ended up as a museum. The other is a festivity that UNESCO lists as living heritage. Each one is documented by the institutions that look after it.

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