Warning before reading!
This post is not for the faint hearted persons.
My, by now very familiar question that is repeated once a week every week says: “What to do on my free days? Where to go and what to explore this time?”
Yesterday I didn’t lose much time bothering of being hesitant, yesterday it was not so difficult to decide where to go. After a brief reflection, I decided to take a day trip from Lisbon. Based on the facts Evora quickly took the victory. To be honest based on the Chapel of Bones. This city is located one hour from Lisbon by car so if you are here near Lisbon or you are coming here to spend some time and you are really into this, I recommend you to go there.
I guess there are many of you who have visited this kind of a chapel somewhere in the world because I just found out that there are a lot of them, but for me this was the first time that I entered in something like this. Must admit, didn’t know how to react at the beginning. Couldn’t hide my huge eyes wide open and confused expression of my face.
Capela dos Ossos or how we call it in English Chapel of Bones is a fascinating chapel with a very macabre atmosphere that I am speaking about. As a part of the Royal Church of St. Francis, this small interior chapel is located next to its entrance.
5 000 bones found their home to the final resting place there, all exhumed from the city’s graveyards in the 16th Century.
WHY? Why the hell they wanted to do that? Who dug the graveyards and carried the bones? Who is enough crazy to do that?!?
These were my questions! Again, couldn’t hide my huge eyes wide open and confused expression of my face.
Than they explained!
In the 16th century the city was covered with more than 43 cemeteries in and around it. It would not be a problem if that weren’t taking up very valuable land. Since it was very necessary for them to take the land back to the community in order to be used by the living ones, they had to do something about it. Now you can guess what they did…
They didn’t want to condemn the souls of the people buried there, so they decided to build this Chapel and relocate the bones. However, they could just put the bones behind closed doors or they could just relocate them somewhere where the land is not so valuable, right? Again, it didn’t have any sense. But, then they explained more.
By then, the monks were very concerned about the values of society because the city had contained a lot of wealth. Because of that they thought that this would provide Évora with a helpful and a significant place for finding a peace to re-examine your own self and to think about the transience of material things in the undeniable presence of death. Interesting thought, isn’t it? 🤔
You still remember the title of this post?
"We bones, are here, waiting for yours."
Portuguese translation "Nós ossos que aqui estamos, pelos vossos esperamos,"
This message explains the given explanation. It's a bit morbid, and a bit scary message which is written above the chapel door at the entrance. Basically it is provoking you to step inside whether you are afraid or not. You simply cannot resist the curiosity that comes over you. At least, I couldn't 😄
This Chapel of Bones is both a creepy and spellbinding experience, but at the end I liked it.
I did not have nightmares and I didn't collapse into unconsciousness there, so for me this was a successful live-dead expedition 😅
Apart from this little, ghoulish "at the end not so scary" story, the city tells many other beautiful stories. Évora is a fascinating place to delve into the past and has a lot to offer. I highly recommend this small town to visit, whether you are interested in this chapel or not.
For more information about the city click on the following link 👉 Visit Evora
I hope I did not scare you a lot 😇
Love, K.
