OSSUARY OF THE CHURCH SAINT-JACQUES

Under the nave of the Church of St. James lies the largest ossuary in Central Europe. It contains the bones of a 13th century cemetery which, once it became too small, were stored in three crypts under the church in the 17th century. But epidemics of plague and cholera caused many deaths and extensions had to be built in the middle of the 18th century. They were dug under the old cemetery. After a few years, the extensions being already full, the two ossuaries were connected by corridors and then, at the end of the 18th century, the whole was closed and sealed under large stone slabs. It was only in 2001 that archaeologists discovered it when the streets were dug up during the renovation of the district. After the excavations, the ossuary was completely redesigned and can now be visited freely. One can walk between the remains of more than 50,000 skeletons occupying the entire volume offered by the vaults where they were arranged in a very "artistic" way in conditions that ensure their proper preservation. Less impressive than the Parisian catacombs (which would shelter the bones of more than 6 million Parisians), the ossuary remains nevertheless striking by the quantity of skeletons piled up and the placements, sometimes hazardous, sometimes artistic in piles, pyramids, columns, etc.