What you are now we used to be, what we are now you will be… Capuchin Crypt, Rome

It is strange to see how artistic form and aesthetic law have almost triumphed over what is inherently horrifying.The fact is, however, that art has arrived here at the point of transforming into richly shaped figures and graceful arabesques what the vanquished see as the peak of horror and what the earth usually enfolds mercifully in the mantle of death.
                                                       Ferdinand Gregoroivius 1853 
It was very inspiring to see the Capuchin Crypt in Rome. There are 6 rooms in the crypt and 5 of those feature a unique display of human bones believed to be taken from the bodies of friars who died between 1528 and 1870.
…It contains the skeletal remains of 3700 bodies…
For the first time I agree with the catholic order…which insist that the display is not meant to be macabre, but a silent reminder of the swift passage of life on earth and our own mortality….
No pictures are aloud to be taken in the museum and crypt…BUT…I still  managed to shoot some with my phone, unfortunately not many of them come out on focus…

The decoration of walls and ceilings, of each room, forms amazing and intricate patterns made with the smallest skeleton’s bones
If you are into skull art, this is a must seen place…a mystic and symbolic hidden museum within the charm of Rome…
 “What you are now we used to be,
                                                   What we are now you will be…”

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