Cap d’Ossus | The Bone Chapel in the city of Evora, Portugal

Cap d’Ossus | The Bone Chapel in the city of Evora, Portugal : Évora is an ancient city of Portugal located in the south of the country and close to the capital, Lisbon. It is a place with a history that goes back to the Romans, which was occupied by Muslims and finally by Christians. It is small and its picturesque old town has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Cap d'Ossus | The Chapel of Bones in the city of Evora, Portugal

Cap d’Ossus is part of the larger Royal Church of St. Francis, and was constructed by Franciscan monks in the late 16th century. The walls are covered and decorated with human skulls. These bones were resting in a cemetery around the church, but in the 16th century the Franciscan monks decided to build the Cape Ossos Chapel in which they were placed.

This served the double purpose of keeping the bones for the Day of Resurrection and a position for the transitional state of life. Besides, the entrance is carved “Nós ossos que aqui estamos, pelos vossos esperamo”, which is translated up and down “We bones we are here, we are waiting for yours”.

In the chapel, two mummified bodies, an adult and a child, were hanging with ropes, now resting in glass cases. It is estimated that there are about 5,000 bones in its premises.

Portugal is not the only place where people have decided to build with bones: The Capuchin Crypt in Rome is a 17th-century chapel decorated with the bones of about 3,700 Capuchin monks.

The Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic is a small Roman Catholic chapel, which is believed to have a skeleton of at least 40,000 people. The peculiar chapel was but in the sixteenth century with the aim of conveying the idea that life in this world is something transitory so the legend that welcomes us at the entrance is no less creepy: “we are not her, we are waiting for you here”. Or, we the bones here, we wait for yours. Photo Wikipedia


Photo From ACJACphoto / Reddit


Photo Wikipedia


Photo Wikipedia

Sources: Atlasobscura / Live Science and Wikipedia

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