About 130 kilometers east of Portugal's Capital Lisbon, you can find a small town called Evora.
This town has a long history! There are quite a lot of small restaurant and small shops where you can have a great time and enjoy authentic food. But there is a darker side of this place!
Please be warned, the following images are showing human remains!
Welcome to the Chapel of Bones
Built in the first half of the 17th century, it is the oldest Chapel of Bones in Portugal and was, from the beginning, dedicated to the cult of the Souls of Purgatory, and later to that of Senhor dos Passos.
The hypothesis that the bones of the burial connected to the convent were used in their construction (common cemetery, church, chapter and cloister), is supported by the historical reports of having been one of the preferred palaces by the people of Evora for their last home and taking the Franciscan habit to the grave guaranteed the absolution of sins.
As a space for prayer and meditation on the human condition, it is expected so serve as a consolation to some and news to others, according to what is announced every year on the first day of Lent: Remember, o man that you are dust and to the dust, you will return. Thus, at the entrance, the mission is immediately expressed as a symbol of transience: WE THE BONES THAT ARE HERE FOR YOURS WE ARE WAITING.
There was in the Chapel on plaque with a sonnet by Antonio Ascensao Teles, prior of the San Fransico between 1845 and 1848, now at the entrance on the reight-hand side:
Where are you going in such a hurry, traveller? Stop... do not proceed any further;
You have no greater concern,
Then this one:
that on which you focus your sight.
Where are you going in such a hurry, traveller?
Stop... do not proceed any furhter;
You have no greater concern,
Then this one:
that on which you focus your sight.
Recall how many have passed from this world,
Reflect on your similar end,
There is good reason to reflect
If only all did the same.
Ponder, you so influenced by fate,
Among the many concerns of the world,
So little do you reflect on death;
If by chance you glance at this place,
Stop... For the sake of your journey,
The more you pause, the more you will progress.
A three-nave chapel lined with bones and skulls, except on the 16th-century granite column capitals and the 17th-century standard pattern tile skirting. In the background, a manner list altarpiece from the now-extinct Convento do Parasio (Paradise convent). At the end of the chapel, two funeral memories:
The shallow grave of Bishop Jacinto Carlos da Silveira, Killed during the French Invasions in 1808;
The tomb made in 1674 to house the bones of the presumed founders of the convent.
In the central nave, the decorated vault shows:
Themes related to the Passion of Christ;
on the aisles, symbols, allegories and Latin inscriptions, many from the Holy Scripture related to the very essence of space: the brevity of earthly life and the plans for an eternal life in the splendour of the glory God.
In the 18th century, the presence of mummies hanging on the wall is noted, two of which remain. They were like that until the first years of the 21th century, without touching either Heaven or Earth, feeding the legend of being the bodies of a father and his son, who treated their mother badly.
On her deathbed, this woman cursed them: May the land of your graves not decompose you.
Next to the mummies, there was a verse, now at the entrance on the right side:
The fleshless skulls
They are my Company,
I bring them night and day
Depicted in my memory;
Many were respected
In the world for their talents,
And others vain ornaments,
Who served vanity,
And it may... in eternity
Be the cause of their torments.
We know, after conducting scientific examinations, that they are both females.
This is the Altar in the center.
The roof is painted with several patterns, pictures of Jesus, Angels and religious symbols.
A column decorated with Skulls and Bones.
Here you can see the how the skulls are embedded in the walls.
Many of the skulls are already falling apart or got destroyed over the years.
Every corner is decorated with skulls like here.
There a just a few windows to let some outside light shine in.
You can see, there are quite a lot of bones necessary to cover all this.
This is how they sucked the bones and sculls over each other to cover the walls.
The is the Entrance or Exit from inside the Chapel.
The first part of text you just read, was written on several plagues inside the Chapel, I wrote it down for you as it was written
I find this place very impressing! In today's society, death is still a taboo. Not many people talk about it. I think about it a lot and I wonder if others do to? How about you are you aware that you will die some day? Are you scared or do you think there will be more after death?
Thank you for stopping by to this dark post. I still hope you enjoyed my pictures and the little tour through the Chapel of Bones!
See you soon!