Catacombs

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For the Bronze Age culture, see Catacomb culture. For the computer game series, see Catacomb 3D. For the 2007 horror film, see Catacombs (2007 film).

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Catacombs Paris

Catacombs Rome - entrance

Catacombs Rome - entrance (detail)

The original catacombs are a network of underground burial galleries beneath San Sebastiano fuori le mura, in Rome. The derivation of the word itself is disputed and it remains unclear if it ultimately derives from the cemetery itself or from the locality in which it is found. There is no doubt however that the San Sebastiano catacombs are the first to be referred to as such.

The word now refers to any network of caves, grottos, or subterranean place that is used for the burial of the dead, or it can refer to a specific underground burial place.

Famous examples include:

Catacombs of Rome in Rome, Italy.
Catacombs of Paris in Paris, France.
Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa (or Kom al Sukkfa, Shuqafa, etc.), in Alexandria, Egypt.
Maltese Catacomb Complexes in Rabat, Malta.^[1]
Catacombs of Sacromonte in Granada, Spain.
Capuchin catacombs of Palermo, in Palermo, Italy.
Catacombs of the Convento de San Francisco in Lima, Peru.
Catacombs of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.
Catacombs of St. Mary's Knockbeg College in Carlow, Ireland.

There are also catacomb-like burial chambers in Anatolia, Turkey; in Susa, North Africa; in Naples, Italy; in Syracuse, Italy; Trier, Germany; Kiev, Ukraine. Capuchin catacombs of Palermo, Sicily were used as late as 1920s. Catacombs were popular in England in the 19th Century, and can be seen in many of the grand cemeteries of the time, such as Sheffield General Cemetery.

In Ukraine and Russia, catacomb (used in the local languages' plural katakomby) also refers to the network of abandoned caves and tunnels earlier used to mine stone, especially limestone. Such catacombs are situated in Crimea and the Black Sea coast of these two countries. The most famous are catacombs beneath Odessa and Ajimushkay, Crimea, Ukraine. In the early days of Christianity, believers conducted secret worship services in these burial caves for safety and reverence for the dead. Later, they served as bases for Soviet World War II guerrillas (see also Great Patriotic War). Ajimushkay catacombs hosted about 10,000 fighters and refugees.^{[citation needed]} Many of them died and were buried there, and memorials and museums were later established (it is now a territory of Kerch city).