“Masterpiece !!” ; “An Architectural masterpiece !!”, itself makes one belief in a sense about any architecture , which is great , unique , historic and non – comparable . Architecture is an art ; and marvellous , extraordinary work on it gives the adjective “Masterpiece” . The masterpiece of an architecture always considered fascinating , beautiful , graceful and gives everyone the memorable moments that remains unforgettable .
This world have existence of many phenomenal / non – phenomenal , natural / man – made sculptures , structures , magnificent & attractive buildings ; and apart from these , lying of the whole – world – worthy amazing Wonders Of The World that catch everyone’s eye . These all created ones , with skilful essence are not only architecture , but also the symbol of creativity , that only exists in the uniqueness of each one .
Let all know about one of famous Architectural Masterpiece from across the world , ‘CATACOMBS’ .
Getting familiar with it…from the beginning / history
“CATACOMBS” , widely known as deriving word from Greek – “Kata Kumbas” , and Latin word “Catacumbas” – meaning the word as “near the hollows”.
Now , this location is very interesting . Looking into it , Catacombs are underground tunnels which were built centuries ago . It was like a weird maze . Many uses of it started or run until 18th / 19th centuries . The 18th century period is also known “the century of lights” or “the century of reason” as there were many revolutionary strikes in the countries between which , wars were likely to be happen e.g. ( Famous revolutionary struggles such as French revolution , Russian revolution , German revolution , Revolution for Socialism and Nationalism in Europe etc.)
In most of cities of the world , wherever these catacombs were located , many dead bodies were buried into these basements as it was the actual purpose behind making of it . Inside of this , kind of religious practices were also done by priests , being usual to perform such practices at the burials . Catacombs were most commonly to be used at the time of wars as there was more to bury in there that time . The skulls and bones through these underground passageways , give this place its original identity. This place have essence of ancient rocks and bones as it is very old .
It is sometimes illegal to enter the site without permission or breaking the rules , and this may charge that person a big difficulty . So it is very important to fit the guidelines and rules in mind before exploring catacomb .
The Story ( short summary ) –
When the people of Old Regime , or Ancient regime thought the need for a place to bury the dead , they invented the tunnels which goes underground , the underground passageways that they can make use of it putting skulls and bones of dead ones , & dead bodies . And later gave it a mythical name “ Catacombs ” .
It is also interesting that , catacombs is used as a gaming level in different – different games , such as Mini Militia , Hypixel SkyBlock . . . . etc .
Location(s)
The Catacombs , the legends , are present in states / cities such as North Africa’s Sousse , Turkey’s Anatolia , Italy’s Syracuse , Germany’s Trier , Ukraine’s Kyiv and , in the Sicily’s Palermo – where these undercroft were used until 1920s . Again lots of places does have these Catacombs .
Aside of all , the very popular and very well – known catacombs lies in Paris and Rome . However , Odessa Catacombs is the World’s largest catacombs .
PARIS CATACOMBS :
These late eighteenth century catacombs are known as “Paris Municipal Ossuary” , where the word ‘Ossuary’ means the place containing bones of dead people . The Paris Catacombs or Catacombs de Paris were built in 1809 , and established in 1810 . Though it is illegal , it was adjudged that , via various secret entrances , about 300 Parisians surveyed the catacombs weekly without remembering, that it is riskiest to travel in Paris catacombs , on going in an illegal way . There are 6 to 7 million estimated dead bodies throughout the tunnel . During the revolution of French , people were directly buried in catacombs . The temperature present constantly inside it is 14 degree celsius . The 2 km area takes least as 45 minutes for travelling through .
The Paris’ Catacombs have many such facts and stories to explore .
ROME CATACOMBS :
The Catacombs of Rome or “ Catacombe di Roma ” are the first ever built among all , having sixty catacombs and above , taking up hundreds of kilometres of passageways in underneath of city and holding thousands of tombs . They were constructed dating back in 1st century as underground tombs , firstly by the communities of Jews , and then by Christian .
ODESSA CATACOMBS :
Odessa Catacombs in Ukraine , Eastern Europe are the World’s largest catacombs systems , which is 1,553 miles sculpt in the limestone below the city of Odessa . As it is very huge and long pathway , it has taken time on an investigation of almost 100 years but still it is not fully explored ; Maybe because of many changes in directions all over and also because of the places that are very difficult and can’t able to be trodden .
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There were uses of catacombs in ago centuries . But now , the people thought that there is no need for catacombs to bury , so the use of catacombs ended up . And now , Catacombs has became a travelling spot .
At last , the conclusion come upon , though walking through it will be sometimes uncomfortable from small placed ways , but it will be crazy and amusing going near from the ghostly skulls and enjoying the whole exploration .
This directly means , all definitely worth a visit to the Catacombs in the lifetime !
~ By ANJALI SUNIL LANJEWAR
