Cataphiles are

urban explorers Urban exploration (often shortened as UE, urbex and sometimes known as roof and tunnel hacking) is the exploration of manmade structures, usually abandoned ruins or hidden components of the manmade environment. Photography and historical inter ...

who illegally tour the

Mines of Paris The mines of Paris (french: carrières de Paris – "quarries of Paris") comprise a number of abandoned, subterranean mines under Paris, France, connected together by galleries. Three main networks exist; the largest, known as the ("large south ...

, a term popularly used to describe a series of tunnels that were built as a network of stone mines, which are no longer used. The

Catacombs of Paris The Catacombs of Paris (french: Catacombes de Paris, ) 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's ancient stone quarries. Ex ...

comprise a subset of this network.

Unauthorized visits

Entrance to the mines is restricted. The portion open to the public (the

catacombs Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etymology and history The first place to be referred ...

) is only a small part of an extensive network of tunnels, which spans around in length and criss-cross large sections of the city. The tunnel system is complex, and though some tunnels have plaques indicating the name of the street above, it is easy to get lost. Some passages are low or narrow, and others are partially flooded. There are aging telephone wires, pipes, and other impediments that can hinder progress, and

cave-in A cave-in is a collapse of a geologic formation, mine or structure which may occur during mining, tunneling, or steep-walled excavation such as trenching. Geologic structures prone to spontaneous cave-ins include alvar, tsingy and other limes ...

s, although rare, do occasionally occur. A good guide is indispensable, and many guides occasionally refer to a map. Because of these dangers, accessing the catacombs without official escort has been illegal since 2 November 1955. There is a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

60 fine for people caught by the E.R.I.C - the special police who patrol the mines (colloquially known as "cataflics"). Secret entrances exist throughout Paris, and it is sometimes possible to enter the mines via the sewers, metro, and certain manholes. Some unofficial visitors hold keys to certain official entrances. On rare occasions people use these access points and illegally enter the mines — for example, to meet clandestinely, to search for valuables, to hold unusual parties, or simply as

. In September 2004, the French police discovered an underground movie theater run by

les UX The ''UX'' (short for ''Urban eXperiment'') is an underground organization that improves hidden corners of Paris. Their work includes restoring the Panthéon clock, building a cinema — complete with a bar and a restaurant — in a section of the ...

— a French artistic movement that seeks to convey their ideas using underground places. Cataphiles often descend for a day, a night, or perhaps a week to explore, photograph, paint murals, create maps, clean up rooms, and dig ''chatières'' (very narrow tunnels, that one can only crawl through).

References

External links

Underground Virtual Visit
{{in lang, en Culture of Paris Subterranea (geography) Urban exploration