The Parisian graves
In contrast to other major cities, the graves were located in the city center of Paris, which over the centuries were used as mass graves by multiple parishes at the same time. Due to the high death rate in the 17th and 18th centuries, the mass graves, like Les Innocents, were so overcrowded that adjacent cellar walls collapsed. To create space, the rest period of those buried was shortened, which however resulted in a state hazardous to health, due to the partially decomposed corpses.