The Parisian graves
In contrast to other large cities, the graves, which were used for centuries as mass graves in several parishes simultaneously, were laid out in the centre of Paris. 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.