Named for the act of staring — the Paris Morgue was originally a room where prisoners' faces were studied, and it became one of the city's most visited "attractions."
A place where bodies of deceased persons are kept, especially before identification or autopsy.
From French Morgue, originally the name of a room in the Conciergerie prison in Paris where new prisoners were examined and their features noted for identification, possibly from morgue meaning a solemn or haughty expression Key roots: morgue (French: "haughty face, staring look").
The original Morgue in Paris became a public spectacle — Parisians would visit to view the unidentified dead displayed behind glass, treating it as a form of morbid entertainment. By the mid-19th century, the Paris Morgue attracted up to 40,000 visitors on busy days, making it one of the city's most popular 'attractions.'