About Me

I'm a PhD student researching the role of the archaeological dead in contemporary British society. Think of this as a scrapbook of all the interesting links, snippets of information and random bits and bobs I come across pertaining to death, dying and the dead. Enjoy?!

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    Paris battles wave of naked models and erotic film-makers sneaking into catacombs  A cave full of old bones is perhaps not the most obvious place to make erotic works of art. But the authorities in charge of Paris’s historic catacombs - which house millions of human skeletons - are battling against a growing wave of people using the underground chambers to video or photograph models in various states of undress. A spokesman for the Musée Carnavalet, which manages the catacombs, said it has to turn down filming requests from erotic artists every day. Undeterred, determined film-makers and models enter the catacombs ‘disguised as tourists’ in order to bypass the guards.  ‘As soon as the coast is clear the girls strip off, the crew films without any fuss, and they leave, unseen and unnoticed,’ a regular visitor told Le Parisien. One of the artists to use the catacombs as a backdrop for nude art is American photographer Miru Kim as part of her 2008 ‘Naked City Spleen’ project. One of her images shows her lying naked on her back on a pile of bones, the Local reports. A spokesman for the Museum Carnavelet said visitors escaped the attention of staff to take elicit naked snaps in the caves ‘from time to time,’ according to the website. Located south of the former city gate the caves were once Paris’s stone mines. The catacombs became a tourist attraction after being opened to the public in the late 18th century. Following vandalism, the underground cemetery was shut to the public in September 2009 and then reopened in December that year.

    Paris battles wave of naked models and erotic film-makers sneaking into catacombs 

    A cave full of old bones is perhaps not the most obvious place to make erotic works of art.

    But the authorities in charge of Paris’s historic catacombs - which house millions of human skeletons - are battling against a growing wave of people using the underground chambers to video or photograph models in various states of undress.

    A spokesman for the Musée Carnavalet, which manages the catacombs, said it has to turn down filming requests from erotic artists every day.

    Undeterred, determined film-makers and models enter the catacombs ‘disguised as tourists’ in order to bypass the guards. 

    ‘As soon as the coast is clear the girls strip off, the crew films without any fuss, and they leave, unseen and unnoticed,’ a regular visitor told Le Parisien.

    One of the artists to use the catacombs as a backdrop for nude art is American photographer Miru Kim as part of her 2008 ‘Naked City Spleen’ project. One of her images shows her lying naked on her back on a pile of bones, the Local reports.

    A spokesman for the Museum Carnavelet said visitors escaped the attention of staff to take elicit naked snaps in the caves ‘from time to time,’ according to the website.

    Located south of the former city gate the caves were once Paris’s stone mines. The catacombs became a tourist attraction after being opened to the public in the late 18th century.

    Following vandalism, the underground cemetery was shut to the public in September 2009 and then reopened in December that year.

    (Source: Daily Mail)

    Inside France’s Empire of the Dead… startling images of the skulls and bones that line catacombs under ParisYou would have to look closely for one of its obscure entrances in the French capital of Paris.  But should you stumble upon one, it reveals an underground world of the dark, dank, narrow tunnels with a fascinating history. Below the City of Light’s 12million residents lie the remains of 6million others - known as France’s Empire of the Dead, a world which is brought to life in a new documentary on CNN. The Paris catacombs are a 200-mile network of old caves, tunnels and quarries - and much of it is filled with the skulls and bones of the dead. Full story and more photographs here.

    Inside France’s Empire of the Dead… startling images of the skulls and bones that line catacombs under Paris

    You would have to look closely for one of its obscure entrances in the French capital of Paris. 

    But should you stumble upon one, it reveals an underground world of the dark, dank, narrow tunnels with a fascinating history.

    Below the City of Light’s 12million residents lie the remains of 6million others - known as France’s Empire of the Dead, a world which is brought to life in a new documentary on CNN.

    The Paris catacombs are a 200-mile network of old caves, tunnels and quarries - and much of it is filled with the skulls and bones of the dead.

    Full story and more photographs here.


    dead-men-talking:

    victusinveritas:

    wednesdaysnecropolis:

    muscavomitoria:

    The Catacombs of Paris

    Paris has a deeper and stranger connection to its underground than almost any city, and that underground is one of the richest. The arteries and intestines of Paris, the hundreds of miles of tunnels that make up some of the oldest and densest subway and sewer networks in the world, are just the start of it. Under Paris there are spaces of all kinds: canals and reservoirs, crypts and bank vaults, wine cellars transformed into nightclubs and galleries. Most surprising of all are the carrières—the old stone quarries that fan out in a deep and intricate web under many neighborhoods, mostly in the southern part of the metropolis.

    These sections of caverns and tunnels have been transformed into underground ossuaries, holding the remains of about 6 million people. Opened in the late 18th century, the underground cemetery became a tourist attraction on a small scale from the early 19th century, and has been open to the public on a regular basis from 1874.

    The official name for these subterranean veins is l’Ossuaire Municipal. Although the cemetery portion covers only a small section of underground tunnels comprising “les carrières de Paris”, Parisians today often refer to the entire tunnel network as “The Catacombs.”

    One of these days…I wouldn’t mind visiting…

    Oh, how I wish to visit the Empire of Death!

    (Source: cmfcknw)

    theossuary: From the article “The Morgue” by Rachael Weaver in Meanjin. midnightgallery: Paris Morgue 1883. A kind of dark tourism was commonplace in the nineteenth century, with a variety of different spectacles and events associated with violence, death and deformity often becoming framed or experienced as macabre and sensational forms of entertainment. Executions, the trials of infamous criminals, waxworks and anatomical museums, and even slums and opium dens could all be relied upon to draw fascinated viewers whose expressions of horror in response to what they saw most often equalled their curiosity and enjoyment. The newspapers played a crucial role in sensationalising the banal details of everyday life in the modern metropolis by embedding them within thrilling narratives of urban danger and excitement. Every fight or brawl, anonymous suicide, railway accident, murder or infanticide became not just an event to be reported in itself, but also a story of the community’s engagement with trauma, death and violence. News reports of the large crowds that flocked to the sites related to notorious crimes such as cemeteries, court houses, prisons and murder scenes confirmed the sensational nature of a case and, in turn, helped to draw increasing numbers of onlookers. The Paris morgue was one of the most famous international sites for this kind of macabre voyeurism in the nineteenth century. From 1864 until 1921 the morgue was located on the quai de l’Archevêché near Notre Dame, nearly within jumping distance of the Seine (from the waters of which many of its subjects were retrieved). The bodies of the anonymous dead were displayed on black marble slabs behind a large glass window for members of the public to view, day or night, seven days a week. Green curtains were hung at either end so that authorities were able to obscure the public’s view when changing the exhibits, intensifying its resemblance to a stage show. Comparisons to waxworks, the theatre and even department store windows were made regularly in sensational newspaper commentaries, which always accompanied the appearance of a new corpse, while the morgue itself was included along with the city’s other tourist attractions in all the guidebooks of Paris.

    theossuary:

    From the article “The Morgue” by Rachael Weaver in Meanjin.

    midnightgallery:

    Paris Morgue 1883.

    A kind of dark tourism was commonplace in the nineteenth century, with a variety of different spectacles and events associated with violence, death and deformity often becoming framed or experienced as macabre and sensational forms of entertainment. Executions, the trials of infamous criminals, waxworks and anatomical museums, and even slums and opium dens could all be relied upon to draw fascinated viewers whose expressions of horror in response to what they saw most often equalled their curiosity and enjoyment. The newspapers played a crucial role in sensationalising the banal details of everyday life in the modern metropolis by embedding them within thrilling narratives of urban danger and excitement. Every fight or brawl, anonymous suicide, railway accident, murder or infanticide became not just an event to be reported in itself, but also a story of the community’s engagement with trauma, death and violence. News reports of the large crowds that flocked to the sites related to notorious crimes such as cemeteries, court houses, prisons and murder scenes confirmed the sensational nature of a case and, in turn, helped to draw increasing numbers of onlookers.

    The Paris morgue was one of the most famous international sites for this kind of macabre voyeurism in the nineteenth century. From 1864 until 1921 the morgue was located on the quai de l’Archevêché near Notre Dame, nearly within jumping distance of the Seine (from the waters of which many of its subjects were retrieved). The bodies of the anonymous dead were displayed on black marble slabs behind a large glass window for members of the public to view, day or night, seven days a week. Green curtains were hung at either end so that authorities were able to obscure the public’s view when changing the exhibits, intensifying its resemblance to a stage show. Comparisons to waxworks, the theatre and even department store windows were made regularly in sensational newspaper commentaries, which always accompanied the appearance of a new corpse, while the morgue itself was included along with the city’s other tourist attractions in all the guidebooks of Paris.

    (via theossuary)

    Human zoos: When real people were exhibits

    An exhibition in Paris looks at the history of so-called human zoos, that put inhabitants from foreign lands, mostly African countries, on display as article of curiosity.

    Over four centuries from the first voyages of discovery, European societies developed an appetite for exhibiting exotic human “specimens” shipped back to Paris, London or Berlin for the interest and delectation of the crowd.

    What started as wide-eyed curiosity on the part of observers turned into ghoulish pseudo-science in the mid-1800s, as researchers sought out physical evidence for their theory of races.

    Finally, in high colonial times, hundreds of thousands of people visited “human zoos” created as part of the great international trade fairs.

    Here they could watch whole villages of Kanaks or Senegalese, with real-life inhabitants paid to act out war dances or religious rituals before their colonial masters.

    The story is told at the Quai Branly museum in Paris until June 2012, mainly through the display of paintings, old photographs, archive film, posters and postcards.

    The aim of the exhibition is explicit - to teach how Western societies created a sense of “the other” in regard to foreign peoples, thus legitimising their eventual domination.

    “What we tried to do is conduct a kind of archaeology of the stereotype,” says curator Nanette Snoep.

    Click through to read the rest of the article and to watch a video of Nanette Snoep talking about the Savages exhibition.

    The Vampire Museum The Musée des Vampires is a small private museum (near the Mairie des Lilas) dedicated to vampires and the study of their place in folklore and modern culture. Located just on the outer edge of Paris, it can be a bit complicated to visit for non-French speakers, but it’s totally do-able and absolutely worth the effort if you’re a fan of vampires, mythology, and weird stuff in general! When I was initially researching the museum, all of the sources I found online, most of which are in French only, mention that the museum is open daily from 12:30pm to 8pm, but some sites don’t make it perfectly clear that you must have an appointment to visit. Making an appointment is little complicated if you don’t speak French, as the main phone number listed (01 43 62 80 76) just gives you a recorded message in French. This message lists the hours and also gives a cell phone number — 06 20 12 28 32 — which you can call to make an appointment. The museum’s curator, a wonderful, captivating fellow named Jacques Sirgent, speaks impeccable English. So if youdon’t speak French, try calling the cell number and very politely asking, “Parlez vous anglais, s’il vous plait?” and I’m sure Monsieur Sirgent will be happy to help you. The collection: You enter the museum through a small courtyard at the back of a private residence. The main room that was open to the public when I was there was a crowded, cluttered, and absolutely fascinating collection of every type of vampire-related item you can imagine: stacks and stacks (and stacks) of books, dozens of paintings and movie posters lining the walls, spooky fine art objects, Halloween-esque props, et cetera, et cetera — even a mummified cat found in Père Lachaise Cemetery! The room is relatively small but I could’ve spent all day in there inspecting these treasures. One highlight I found very impressive: the autographs of every actor who’s ever starred as Dracula in a Hollywood movie! After briefly being shown around the place by Monsieur Sirgent, we sat down for a long chat about the history of vampires, their folkloric origins, and their place in French history and the modern human psyche. Monsieur Sirgent, or Jacques as he told us to call him, has written several books on the topic, and very clearly is an expert on all things vampiric. Beforehand, I was a little concerned we’d find the museum’s director to be sort of overly goth or flaky or downright crazy, but I’m pleased to report Jacques is actually almost startlingly down to earth, and completely, well, normal! I made a joke about having worried that he’d be a serial killer, and he laughed and immediately pointed out a painting on a wall and told me it had been painted by famous French murderer Nicolas Claux, “le Vampire de Paris,” with whom Jacques is acquainted. Wow. Via Cool Stuff in Paris, click the photo to read more!

    The Vampire Museum

    The Musée des Vampires is a small private museum (near the Mairie des Lilas) dedicated to vampires and the study of their place in folklore and modern culture. Located just on the outer edge of Paris, it can be a bit complicated to visit for non-French speakers, but it’s totally do-able and absolutely worth the effort if you’re a fan of vampires, mythology, and weird stuff in general!

    When I was initially researching the museum, all of the sources I found online, most of which are in French only, mention that the museum is open daily from 12:30pm to 8pm, but some sites don’t make it perfectly clear that you must have an appointment to visit.

    Making an appointment is little complicated if you don’t speak French, as the main phone number listed (01 43 62 80 76) just gives you a recorded message in French. This message lists the hours and also gives a cell phone number — 06 20 12 28 32 — which you can call to make an appointment. The museum’s curator, a wonderful, captivating fellow named Jacques Sirgent, speaks impeccable English. So if youdon’t speak French, try calling the cell number and very politely asking, “Parlez vous anglais, s’il vous plait?” and I’m sure Monsieur Sirgent will be happy to help you.

    The collection: You enter the museum through a small courtyard at the back of a private residence. The main room that was open to the public when I was there was a crowded, cluttered, and absolutely fascinating collection of every type of vampire-related item you can imagine: stacks and stacks (and stacks) of books, dozens of paintings and movie posters lining the walls, spooky fine art objects, Halloween-esque props, et cetera, et cetera — even a mummified cat found in Père Lachaise Cemetery! The room is relatively small but I could’ve spent all day in there inspecting these treasures. One highlight I found very impressive: the autographs of every actor who’s ever starred as Dracula in a Hollywood movie!

    After briefly being shown around the place by Monsieur Sirgent, we sat down for a long chat about the history of vampires, their folkloric origins, and their place in French history and the modern human psyche. Monsieur Sirgent, or Jacques as he told us to call him, has written several books on the topic, and very clearly is an expert on all things vampiric. Beforehand, I was a little concerned we’d find the museum’s director to be sort of overly goth or flaky or downright crazy, but I’m pleased to report Jacques is actually almost startlingly down to earth, and completely, well, normal! I made a joke about having worried that he’d be a serial killer, and he laughed and immediately pointed out a painting on a wall and told me it had been painted by famous French murderer Nicolas Claux, “le Vampire de Paris,” with whom Jacques is acquainted. Wow.

    Via Cool Stuff in Paris, click the photo to read more!

    Via the BBC News Website Googling the ghosts of Montparnasse cemetery Paris is well-known for its cemeteries, the most famous being Pere Lachaise, where tourists seek out the tomb of Oscar Wilde. But I live next to another great 19th Century cemetery in Montparnasse - and when I go there I always take my phone. It is funny how we love a graveyard. You would think we would find contemplation of all that decomposition and mortality to be off-putting, but we do not. Or at least I do not. Over the last 10 years I have become an aficionado of the pathways and sculptures and chapels and memorials of my local, Montparnasse cemetery. By now I know all the famous graves - Serge Gainsbourg, the singer and poet, his slab covered with flowers and metro tickets left by fans in reference to one of his best-known songs. Tombs re-used Near the northern gate, the shared tomb of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, with always a piece or two of folded paper. Words of devotion from some earnest admirer, often in Japanese for some reason. Continue reading the main story Charles Baudelaire and Guy de Maupassant, the photographer Man Ray and the chess grandmaster Alekhine, Samuel Beckett, Susan Sontag, Jean Seberg… It is very regimented, in a way that official things so often are in France. The ground is divided into 30 “divisions” and there are uniformed attendants who blow whistles and hustle everyone out at closing time. Lines of watering cans attest to the fact that this is very much a (excuse the pun) “living” cemetery, with 1,000 new burials every year, as old abandoned tombs are emptied and re-used. So much for the pious hope, everywhere engraved - “plot granted in perpetuity”. Anyway, it is a lovely restful place, all the more welcome for being at the heart of a busy metropolis. And now I have discovered a new reason to visit - the smartphone. By which I mean, the possibility offered by any internet-capable hand-held device to serve up the most extraordinary array of instant, fascinating information about people - dead people - who we would otherwise totally ignore. Click the photo to read the rest of the article… Photo of the tomb of Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763-1837) - Belgian physicist and magician,  Cimetière du Père Lachaise, Paris - France, by S. Ruehlow via Flickr

    Via the BBC News Website

    Googling the ghosts of Montparnasse cemetery

    Paris is well-known for its cemeteries, the most famous being Pere Lachaise, where tourists seek out the tomb of Oscar Wilde. But I live next to another great 19th Century cemetery in Montparnasse - and when I go there I always take my phone.

    It is funny how we love a graveyard.

    You would think we would find contemplation of all that decomposition and mortality to be off-putting, but we do not. Or at least I do not.

    Over the last 10 years I have become an aficionado of the pathways and sculptures and chapels and memorials of my local, Montparnasse cemetery.

    By now I know all the famous graves - Serge Gainsbourg, the singer and poet, his slab covered with flowers and metro tickets left by fans in reference to one of his best-known songs.

    Tombs re-used

    Near the northern gate, the shared tomb of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, with always a piece or two of folded paper. Words of devotion from some earnest admirer, often in Japanese for some reason.

    Continue reading the main story

    Charles Baudelaire and Guy de Maupassant, the photographer Man Ray and the chess grandmaster Alekhine, Samuel Beckett, Susan Sontag, Jean Seberg…

    It is very regimented, in a way that official things so often are in France.

    The ground is divided into 30 “divisions” and there are uniformed attendants who blow whistles and hustle everyone out at closing time.

    Lines of watering cans attest to the fact that this is very much a (excuse the pun) “living” cemetery, with 1,000 new burials every year, as old abandoned tombs are emptied and re-used. So much for the pious hope, everywhere engraved - “plot granted in perpetuity”.

    Anyway, it is a lovely restful place, all the more welcome for being at the heart of a busy metropolis. And now I have discovered a new reason to visit - the smartphone.

    By which I mean, the possibility offered by any internet-capable hand-held device to serve up the most extraordinary array of instant, fascinating information about people - dead people - who we would otherwise totally ignore.

    Click the photo to read the rest of the article…

    Photo of the tomb of Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763-1837) - Belgian physicist and magician,  Cimetière du Père Lachaise, Paris - France, by S. Ruehlow via Flickr

    lsefton: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in Paris.  I went to Paris in the summer and walking round the cemeteries was probably my favourite thing to do. I don’t know why, I can’t explain it. Is it just a morbid fascination with death? I don’t think so. The cemeteries here are so ironic and at times uncomfortable that one cannot help to be fascinated by them and comforted by their frankness.   Firstly, it is a cemetery; people have been laid to rest here. The ones holding famous people, such as Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde, have become tourist attractions. But, years ago people would have visited them, would have grieved, cried and remembered their loved ones. To stand in a place that had held, and still holds, people at their most vulnerable, witnessed their displays of emotion and grief was incredibly moving. This point was made ever so poignantly near the grave of the composer Chopin. We were looking at it, reading the notes people had left as an elderly woman walked past us, carrying a bouquet. I watched her walk on by and noticed a grave more colourful than the rest. The woman who lay there had died recently and friends, family and colleagues had covered her grave in flowers and notes. I went from being in sheer awe of standing at the foot of a great composer’s grave to feeling a great pang of grief for a woman I did not know, but only aware of in death, but who would never know of me, my existence and would never be aware that I was standing at the foot of her grave.   Secondly, the sheer grandeur of it is amazing. Walking round a Parisian cemetery is completely different to walking round a British one. It was magnificent, set in acres of parkland with tall trees, watching over the dead who lay there. In Britain even the wealthy and the famous are content with headstones, anything more than that stands out and the desire to be different is not something the British are particularly known for. The Parisians though like, or rather liked their tombs. There is no denial of death here, no small stone with lines of who lies here and what they did in life, but a large statement of what people can do in death. Every tomb is as grand as the next. If you took away their reason to exist they would not look out of place in an art gallery and often it is easy to get carried away, to forget that you are in a cemetery and not in an outdoor museum. People marvel at the architecture, gasp at the luxury and (to my annoyance) take pictures in the tombs: smiling, happy pictures. One can only imagine what these cemeteries would have looked like hundreds of years ago, like their occupants some are decaying, forgotten and left in the constraints of this world, with the inevitable problems that brings, both natural and man-made. It is somewhat ironic then that the unrefined, unassuming fact of death should be held in such opulence and grandeur. If ever you visit Paris (I cannot say if cemeteries are like this across France) I would recommend you walk round one. Not to visit the graves of the famous but to be truly humbled and to see the often uncomfortable fact of mortality in its most extravagant of settings.     I cannot agree more, Père Lachaise is a magnificent place and you can visit the cemetery ‘virtually’ here. For anyone planning a trip to Paris in the flesh, then I would also recommend a visit to the Les Catacombes, they are truly spectacular.

    lsefton:

    Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in Paris. 

    I went to Paris in the summer and walking round the cemeteries was probably my favourite thing to do. I don’t know why, I can’t explain it. Is it just a morbid fascination with death? I don’t think so. The cemeteries here are so ironic and at times uncomfortable that one cannot help to be fascinated by them and comforted by their frankness.  

    Firstly, it is a cemetery; people have been laid to rest here. The ones holding famous people, such as Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde, have become tourist attractions. But, years ago people would have visited them, would have grieved, cried and remembered their loved ones. To stand in a place that had held, and still holds, people at their most vulnerable, witnessed their displays of emotion and grief was incredibly moving. This point was made ever so poignantly near the grave of the composer Chopin. We were looking at it, reading the notes people had left as an elderly woman walked past us, carrying a bouquet. I watched her walk on by and noticed a grave more colourful than the rest. The woman who lay there had died recently and friends, family and colleagues had covered her grave in flowers and notes. I went from being in sheer awe of standing at the foot of a great composer’s grave to feeling a great pang of grief for a woman I did not know, but only aware of in death, but who would never know of me, my existence and would never be aware that I was standing at the foot of her grave.  

    Secondly, the sheer grandeur of it is amazing. Walking round a Parisian cemetery is completely different to walking round a British one. It was magnificent, set in acres of parkland with tall trees, watching over the dead who lay there. In Britain even the wealthy and the famous are content with headstones, anything more than that stands out and the desire to be different is not something the British are particularly known for. The Parisians though like, or rather liked their tombs. There is no denial of death here, no small stone with lines of who lies here and what they did in life, but a large statement of what people can do in death. Every tomb is as grand as the next. If you took away their reason to exist they would not look out of place in an art gallery and often it is easy to get carried away, to forget that you are in a cemetery and not in an outdoor museum. People marvel at the architecture, gasp at the luxury and (to my annoyance) take pictures in the tombs: smiling, happy pictures. One can only imagine what these cemeteries would have looked like hundreds of years ago, like their occupants some are decaying, forgotten and left in the constraints of this world, with the inevitable problems that brings, both natural and man-made.

    It is somewhat ironic then that the unrefined, unassuming fact of death should be held in such opulence and grandeur. If ever you visit Paris (I cannot say if cemeteries are like this across France) I would recommend you walk round one. Not to visit the graves of the famous but to be truly humbled and to see the often uncomfortable fact of mortality in its most extravagant of settings.  
     

    I cannot agree more, Père Lachaise is a magnificent place and you can visit the cemetery ‘virtually’ here. For anyone planning a trip to Paris in the flesh, then I would also recommend a visit to the Les Catacombes, they are truly spectacular.

    (via fuckyeahcemeteries)