Dave Robertson's Blog - Posts Tagged "chapels"
Ossuaries: Creepy, beautiful, holy
One chapter of my book, Strange Hunting, takes place in an ossuary. For those that don't know, an ossuary is a place where bones are kept. In many parts of Europe, when graveyards began to fill, they dug up the bodies and transferred the bones to an ossuary so that new people could be buried in the consecrated ground of the church cemeteries. Some ossuaries are in churches or chapels, others are huge underground places which contain the bones of thousands of people, or more. The ossuary under Paris is reported to contain the bones of over a million people.
In The Skull Cathedral of Otranto, Italy, the altar itself is backed by walls made of 800 skulls. They are the skulls of 800 martyrs who were killed by the Ottomans in 1480.
At the Chapel of Bones in Evora, Portugal, all of the interior walls and pillars are decorated with a mosaic of human bones and skulls. The bones are those of about 5,000 monks. Also, two desiccated skeletons hang from chains in the ceiling. The entrance to this gruesome chapel bears the message: "We, the bones that are here, await yours". the chapel was designed to remind people of the transitory nature of life.
The Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic is decorated by the bones of approximately 50,000 people. They are arranged as decorations from pillars to mosaics, and even make up a very famous, creepy chandelier of bones and skulls.
At the Santa Marie della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome, the walls are decorated with human skulls arranged in lines and arches and the skeleton of several monks are arranged about the room wearing traditional robes.
Creepy? Morbid? Beautiful? Holy? I guess these things are in the eye of the beholder.
In The Skull Cathedral of Otranto, Italy, the altar itself is backed by walls made of 800 skulls. They are the skulls of 800 martyrs who were killed by the Ottomans in 1480.
At the Chapel of Bones in Evora, Portugal, all of the interior walls and pillars are decorated with a mosaic of human bones and skulls. The bones are those of about 5,000 monks. Also, two desiccated skeletons hang from chains in the ceiling. The entrance to this gruesome chapel bears the message: "We, the bones that are here, await yours". the chapel was designed to remind people of the transitory nature of life.
The Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic is decorated by the bones of approximately 50,000 people. They are arranged as decorations from pillars to mosaics, and even make up a very famous, creepy chandelier of bones and skulls.
At the Santa Marie della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome, the walls are decorated with human skulls arranged in lines and arches and the skeleton of several monks are arranged about the room wearing traditional robes.
Creepy? Morbid? Beautiful? Holy? I guess these things are in the eye of the beholder.
