<Tr> <Th> Collections </Th> <Td> Underground quarries of Paris in the late 18th century </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> Les Catacombes de Paris </Td> </Tr> <P> The Catacombs of Paris (French: Catacombes de Paris, (help info)) are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people in a small part of a tunnel network built to consolidate Paris' ancient stone mines . Extending south from the Barrière d'Enfer ("Gate of Hell") former city gate, this ossuary was created as part of the effort to eliminate the city's overflowing cemeteries . Preparation work began not long after a 1774 series of gruesome Saint Innocents - cemetery - quarter basement wall collapses added a sense of urgency to the cemetery - eliminating measure, and from 1786, nightly processions of covered wagons transferred remains from most of Paris' cemeteries to a mine shaft opened near the Rue de la Tombe - Issoire . </P> <P> The ossuary remained largely forgotten until it became a novelty - place for concerts and other private events in the early 19th century; after further renovations and the construction of accesses around Place Denfert - Rochereau, it was open to public visitation from 1874 . Since January 1, 2013, the Catacombs number among the 14 City of Paris Museums managed by Paris Musées . Although the ossuary comprises only a small section of the underground "carrières de Paris" ("quarries of Paris"), Parisians presently often refer to the entire tunnel network as "the catacombs". </P>

How did the catacombs of paris come to be
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