Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Capuchin Crypt - Creepiest Construction of Corpses in Rome


Over 4000 bodies of Capuchin monks are used to decorate a long dark hallway consisting of 6 rooms - including the Crypt of the Skulls, Crypt of the Leg Bones and Thigh Bones, and Crypt of the Pelvises......
The floor is spread with soil brought from Jerusalem, and bones are nailed onto the walls in intricate patterns, piled in heaps, and even used to make the light fittings ...

After extensive sightseeing throughout Rome, I think I've found the coolest place here:
The Capuchin Crypt, just down the stairs to the right of Santa Maria della Concezione, right near Piazza Barberini... According to Wikipedia, it is "the final resting place for over 4,000 Capuchin friars, who died between 1528 and 1870, as well as several poor Romans."
It's "free" to visit, but there is a minimum one euro compulsory donation - best euro I have ever spent! It's macabre and creepy and a little bit gross, but its just So Cool!! From the skull with shoulder bones underneath, creating an eerie bow-tie, to the children's skeleton on the roof, made into a grim reaper and holding scales (also built with bones), the derelict crypt is a whole new way to deal with the dead.

The majority of the corpses' skeletons have been used to create intricate decorations, including swirling frescoes of spine bones and delicate and elaborate collar bone embellishments on the walls. There's also what appears to be partially decomposed corpses in hooded cloaks watching over some of the rooms. These zombie-monks are from the Capuchin order, and their brown outfit has given its name both to cappuccinos and Capuchin monkeys...

Out of all the huge, old, overwhelming sights to see in Rome, this tiny, dark, dingy hall of bones is hands down my favorite sight of all. So, if you're doing the sightseeing route in Rome, don't just do the conventional Colosseum, make sure you get to the creepy Capuchin crypt...It's a good way to see something different, and contemplate the bigger things, like life, death, mortality and zombies...As the skeletons-of-former-monks say, on a plaque in the final room:

"What you are now, we used to be; what we are now, you will be"

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