There is a San Francisco Church found in the Portuguese city of Évora, 140 km (87 miles) from Lisbon. Inside this church, next to the cloister of the former Franciscan monastery, where the monks’ cells were once located, is the terrifying “Capela dos Ossos” (Chapel of Bones).
This particular chapel was built in the Gothic style throughout the 15th and 16th centuries. Specifically, three monks were responsible for planning and building the site between 1460 and 1510. It is said that the reason of the monks for the chapel was to bring their brethren to contemplate the ephemeral, the fluctuating and the transient. the nature of life.
Image of one of the columns of the Chapel of Bones, decorated with human bones and skulls. San Francisco Church, Evora, Portugal. (Francisco Antunes / CC BY 2.0 )
By the time the Chapel of Bones was built, the city’s two Franciscan cemeteries were overflowing and remains had to be exhumed to create more space. That’s when the three monks thought of creating a chapel with bones and skulls to decorate the walls, columns, domes and domes. Furthermore, it was decided that the bone fragments would form part of the mortar. It is estimated that at least 5,000 corpses were used in construction.
To enter the Chapel of Bones, one must pass through a door with the following inscription written on the threshold: “Nos ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos,” which roughly translates as “Our bones, are here, are Wait for you.” Certainly an allusion to the Franciscan concept of the futility of human existence.
The entrance to the chapel with the message “We bones, are here, waiting for your bones”. (Nuno André Sequeira / CC BY-SA 2.0 )
The Chapel of Bones is 18.7 meters (61.4 feet) long and 11 meters (36.1 feet) wide. Bones and skulls were carefully arranged to decorate its walls and columns. The roof is built of white bricks and decorated with various motifs associated with death. The arches surrounding the small windows inside are also decorated with skulls, and the play of light and shadow gives the room a completely spooky appearance.
Bone fragments and many skulls were found on the walls of the chapel. (Ken & Nyetta / CC BY 2.0 )
Another legend exists about the origin of the skeletons claiming that they came from a disaster that devastated the town of Monte Maior. The story goes that the disaster occurred during a thunderstorm in the area, which, by a twist of fate, caused a lightning strike to strike the great arsenal stored in the castle.
Of the approximately 1,100 homes in the town, more than 800 were said to have been destroyed at the time. Thousands of bodies were found later buried in a mass grave. However, after 30 years, the remains were said to have been dug up to build a chapel to commemorate the victims.
Detailed human skulls decorate the capital and dome of the chapel. (Nuno André Sequeira / CC BY-SA 2.0 )
In addition to the thousands of human skeletons that decorated the chapel, two human mummies were also found hanging on one of the walls. One of the two corpses corresponds to an adult man and the other to a child. Both were hung up for visitors to see, chained to the same wall.
Although their identities remain unknown, they were apparently found together and then hanged there. One legend says that they were father and son and that the son abused his mother, in which the father was an accomplice. It is said that as the mother lay dying, she cursed both of them, “May the ground where your graves lie be not destroyed!”
Another legend holds that the man was an adulterer and the child was his sinful child. Ultimately, the only thing known for sure about the two bodies is that they have been hanging in the Chapel of Bones since the seventeenth century.
Two bodies, corresponding to an adult man and a small child, appear chained to the wall of the Chapel of Bones. (Georges Jansoone / CC BY-SA 2.5 )
It may surprise you, but the Chapel of Bones in Évora is not the only famous Portuguese ossuary. In fact, very close to this chapel is the Capela de las Almas de Campo Maior (Campo Maior Chapel of the Souls): Portugal’s second largest chapel dedicated to eternal purgatory.
Featured image: Close-up of a human skull as part of the Chapel of Bones of the Church of San Francisco in Évora, Portugal. (Georges Jansoone / CC BY-SA 2.5 )
