You might think it\u2019s an Halloween story\u2026 but it\u2019s all true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For over a century, Parisians \u2014 and even tourists from far away \u2014 flocked every week to observe\u2026 the anonymous dead of the capital.
Welcome to a Paris where, on Sundays, families or couples didn\u2019t go to a museum\u2026 but to the morgue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Originally, the word \u201cmorgue\u201d<\/strong> comes from the verb morguer<\/em>, meaning \u201cto stare intensely.\u201d<\/strong> But very quickly\u2026 morbid fascination took over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Located on the \u00cele de la Cit\u00e9, behind huge windows, around fifteen bodies were displayed each day, lying on marble slabs, cooled by a trickle of water to slow decomposition. Result: up to 40,000 visitors per day.<\/strong> The place became a true popular attraction, so much so that it was included in British tourist circuits! But this \u201cSunday outing\u201d ended in 1907<\/strong>, when Prefect Louis L\u00e9pine<\/strong> permanently closed the site for reasons of hygiene and morality. This chilling story reminds us how much our relationship with death has changed. Would you have dared to go in\u2026?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You might think it\u2019s an Halloween story\u2026 but it\u2019s all true. For over a century, Parisians \u2014 and even tourists from far away \u2014 flocked every week to observe\u2026 the anonymous dead of the capital.Welcome to a Paris where, on Sundays, families or couples didn\u2019t go to a museum\u2026 but to the morgue. Originally, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-classe-en"],"yoast_head":"\n
Its purpose? To help identify people found drowned in the Seine or deceased without identification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Free entry, no ticket\u2026 guaranteed success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, 40,000 people<\/strong> came to observe the dead as if they were visiting an exhibition.
Parisians\u2026 tourists\u2026 and even criminals, who discreetly checked whether their victim had been recognized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zola and Maupassant themselves drew inspiration from it in their writings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The morgue then became the forensic institute we know today \u2014 far from the sinister window display of the time\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yesterday: spectacle.
Today: taboo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n