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Parisian Corpses from 1789-1900
A fear of disease-causing "miasmas" from rotting corpses lead to
designating new cemeteries on the outskirts of Paris, in the fashion of
the Greeks and Romans. These include Pere Lachaise. The fear of the
stench from the mass grave of Saints Innocents lead to the removal of
human remains and was performed on winter nights over a two year
period, from 1785-1787. These bones were placed in the Catacombes
--named after the Roman catacombs, though these were simply
abandoned quarries once populated by thieves--and were sorted and
stacked neatly by type, just like in the Imperial City. The transfer of
other urban cemeteries to the Catacombes occured until the 1870s;
it currently hold the remains of six million Parisians. The Catacombs
became a popular novelty for the old nobility who held dinner parties
and picnics there.
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