Happy Holidays hivers of the world!
Did you know that in many cities of the colonial era, the cemeteries were located next to the main church or cathedral? Yes, it was common for mourners to bury their dead next to the church and even inside the church itself.
Join me today to a very peculiar place, the Museo Sacro de Caracas, located on the east side of the Plaza Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela. It is a building dating from the late eighteenth century. The interesting thing about this place is that if its walls and its spectral inhabitants could talk we would have interesting stories for a while.
Here is the pinmapple code: [//]:# (!pinmapple 10.50593 lat -66.91451 long d3scr)
The adventure began
First things first, how did the idea of visiting this peculiar place come up, well, I owe it to a group of elderly friends who have taken on the task of doing what they like the most: getting to know the city!
02:00 p.m. as punctual as a Swiss watch (so they say), we started the tour. By the way, I found it very strange that the group was so punctual, here in Venezuela the meetings start half an hour later than scheduled. I think we are changing! And that, gentlemen, is a good thing.
With a small façade, the Sacred Museum hides so much history that no one of us who walk through the square knows what it hides until we visit it. After passing through a hallway with a modern and elegant architectural style, we arrive at a large central courtyard and we discover before our eyes a large perimeter house, with spacious rooms, high walls and gabled roof.
Each room has a wide variety of pictorial, sculptural and architectural art. It is a delight to walk through its rooms and discover an era that I felt so far away from me, until I visited the place.
The secrets it hides
The cemetery. I have learned that 300 years ago, it was common for cemeteries to be in the center of the city, next to the main church or cathedral. Well, I tell you that the large courtyard that I saw when I entered, is the cemetery. Of course there was no shortage of stories of ghosts and apparitions among the visitors.
Common grave. Every era has its plague, well, at that time the plagues were not lacking, so when this happened, people were buried in a mass grave and this museum has very well kept this secret. There is a mass grave, very close to the Plaza Bolivar and next to the Cathedral. Next to this mass grave and in later times there are several catacombs that are believed to have belonged to the first archbishops of Caracas.
Priests' Prison. They had their own special jail. For the clergymen who failed to fulfill their religious vows they had a reduced space where they were punished and they did their penances to free themselves from sin. As a point in their favor, the jail was very close to the side wall of the cathedral and they left a window open for the prisoners to hear the religious office.
Subway cave. Between the sacred museum and the cathedral there are two openings leading to a subway space. We have learned that they lead to the catacombs where the Bolivar family was buried: the father, mother and wife of Simon Bolivar, the Liberator of Venezuela.
The architects have dedicated themselves to leave exposed walls and floors from the colonial era, so that visitors can experience the pleasant sensation of traveling back in time while touring the place.
Additional information
The place has a café and a souvenir store, but at the time of the visit, they were not open. It will be for a next opportunity.
The entrance fee is two dollars and includes the visit to the Archbishop's House, and if you go in a group you can contact them and request a guided tour, here I leave you the email of the museum, because if you live in Caracas you can not miss the opportunity to give you this gift: fundacionmontesdeoca@gmail.com
Thank you for joining me in the adventure of rediscovering my city, to experience every corner with the aroma of old.
Follow me on my social networks:
My own photos taken with my Tecno Spark cell phone //
I used the free version of Deepl.com as a translator.
