2023-09-14 10:02:00
A mosque decorated with human bones and skulls. You can feel not only curiosity but also fear while listening. Don’t be afraid. Oddly enough, there was a reason for doing so. A small chapel can be found next to the main entrance of the ancient Church of Saint Francis in Évora, Portugal. Capela dos Osos, or Chapel of Bones. A church made of bones. An ordinary chapel from the outside. But once inside, everywhere you look are skulls and bone fragments. Doubtless, of men. The interior work on the walls and pillars is done with bones and skulls. Hundreds of bones and skulls can also be seen in the altar. There is no more reason to call this church the Chapel of Bones. But why is the church so full of bones and heads? Watch the video….
In the 16th century, many of Évora’s old church cemeteries ran out of room to bury bodies. Naturally, the remains of old graves should be removed. The bones and skulls thus moved became the Chapel of Bones. Instead of burying or discarding the remains, the monks of the day decided to display the remains inside the church for visitors to see. Thus, in the 17th century, Capela dos Osos was born.
The mosque of bones is small in size. But once you step inside, you will be treated to a very strange sight. It takes some courage to enter the chapel. About five thousand remains were used to decorate the walls of the chapel alone. Also note the inscriptions above the doors. ‘We are here as bones. Waiting for yours’. In addition to the bones that decorate the interior of the church, there are also the bones of three Franciscan monks that the church placed in a small white casket near the altar. A child’s skeleton hangs from the ceiling. The accompanying text reads: ‘Day of death is better than day of birth’. Although strange, the intention behind this phrase is not to scare. The purpose of writing is to make visitors think regarding their lives and remember those who have died. Apart from this, here is a poem that tries to convince man of the need to realize and reflect on his own existence. Perhaps the purpose of all this is to instill the conviction that the rush is only temporary and that eventually only bones and skulls remain.
Do you know ? There is a Church in Portugal made up of real human bones and skulls. The Chapel of Bones in Evora, Portugal, is part of the larger Royal Church of St. Francis, and was constructed by Franciscan monks in the late 16th century.
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