Pere Lachaise Cemetery Paris - The Architecture of Eternity
The cemetery takes its name from Pere Francois de la Chaise, the confessor of Louis XIV, who lived in the Jesuit house rebuilt in 1682 on the site of the chapel. It was bought by the city and laid out by Alexandre Theodore Brongniart and later extended. The cemetery was established by Napoleon in 1804. Today there are over 300,000 bodies buried there
The catacombs are a network of subterranean tunnels and rooms located in what were Roman limestone quarries. The quarries were converted into mass tombs in the early 18th century. The section of the catacombs open to the public is only a small part of an extensive network of underground tunnels, which spans more than 300km (about 186 miles.) The remains were moved there due to overcrowding in the cemeteries.
