We started out walking through the Cappuchin Crypt, which is a long hallway with six open rooms (known here as chapels). Five of them contain various skulls, pelvic and hip bones, arms and legs, and even full skeletons. These bones belonged to monks. Now, there are thousands of skulls alone within these five rooms, and they're all arranged decoratively.
When I first saw it, I was shocked. These are real bones from real people. It's incredibly disturbing. But once the shock ceases, you realize how beautiful these arrangements are. Smaller bones (from the ribs, maybe? I was never good at anatomy) are arranged along the walls, not just in the chapels, to make different shapes and patterns. In the last chapel, they're even arranged into a clock shape. On the ceiling, a full skeleton holds a scythe and a set of scales (both of which are, of course, made out of bones). Even the chandeliers were made of bones!
What was even creepier were the the full bodies that are either laid down or being held up so they look like they're standing. Some of their heads weren't just skeletal bones... it looked like the flesh hadn't decomposed all the way. Apparently, the bodies were left buried for at least 30 years. How long does it take flesh to decompose? Please don't answer that, I'm not sure I really want to know.
We weren't allowed to take pictures, but I found this one online!
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| The center is a coat of arms. Literally. It's made with arms. |
It was very dark inside, especially within all of side chapels. It walls themselves were dark and didn't look like it was taken care of very well. I can't tell you exactly what it was, but I didn't get a nice welcoming feeling from this church as I did from the others. It was certainly beautiful, but I felt uncomfortable.
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