A note to the a**holes who defiled Paris' catacombs.

Great, guys. Brilliant. Not only are you the first to bring any large-scale destruction to the Paris catacombs since their 1786 creation, you have destroyed in one fell swoop perhaps centuries of Paris underground exploration. Any "largesse" the police had for the more experienced of us is now gone — as, obviously, it would take someone experienced to map/dig the way between the official/non-official catacombs.

What the hell was your motive? Qui Bono?

For me, it can only be one of two scenarios: Either someone with "good intentions" (and the road to hell is paved with these) opened the way to the official catacombs, "hid" it, and someone inexperienced to the underground (long-time cataphiles would NEVER do this) found it later; the other is revenge. Revenge for what? The only thing that could qualify for a "revenge" against the city of Paris is their closing of a clandestine underground theatre a few years ago.

Either way, it amounts to different bull*hit with the same result. I just found out today that the catacombs may be closed indefinitely — this effectively kills all plans I had to return to the underground after an absence of almost eight years. Not only can I not photograph the official catacombs, I cannot return to the unofficial underground to continue the experimentation I had begun in my last visits.

Thanks, guys.