The bone chapel in Evora.

Inside the bone chapel in Evora.

 

In Portugal you have a bone chapel where the walls and pillars are decorated with bones and skulls from around 5000 dead humans. It’s in a town called Ever and you should go and see it.

How do you feel about walking around a room with bones from roughly 5000 dead people surrounding you? You can actually do that in Portugal. In Ever in central Portugal, there is a chapel inside a church, where you have such a bone chapel.

The bone chapel is open to visitors.

The bone chapel is open to visitors.

Why do they have a bone chapel in Evora?

The whole thing started because of practical reasons. Ever had a lot of graveyards in the 16th century that the people would like to use for other purposes than keeping dead bodies. They also had a problem with the foundations of some churches cracking up, because of dead bodies buried underneath the church floor. The small from the dead bodies under the church floor was not too pleasant either. Especially during mass, when the church was full of people and warm.

Some Franciscan munks had an idea though. They wanted to have a chapel where they could remind people that life was a passing thing. and by decorating the walls with bones from dead people, they could remind people that life is temporary.

Craniums trying to make eye contact with you.

Craniums trying to make eye contact with you.

The chapel is actually really cool and quirky in it’s own way. Skulls and bones are glued nice to the walls and pillars. There is even a couple of mummies on display too. And above the entrance there is a poem that reads: “Nós ossos que aqui estamos, pelos vossos esperamos” That roughly translates to: “We bones, are here, waiting for yours”.

They have a couple of mummies too inside the chapel.

They have a couple of mummies too inside the chapel.

The chapel is located inside the Sao Francisco church. The church is possibly the ugliest building in Evora though. It’s a product of a reconstruction gone totally wrong and it looks more like a Disney castle than an old church these days.

The Sao Francisco church in Evora.

The Sao Francisco church in Evora.

But the chapel inside is really cool and the rest of Evora is pretty like a postcard.

Evora is pretty.

Evora is pretty.

So if you do not mind some dead bodies around you, Then the bone chapel in Evora is well worth a visit if you come to Portugal.

4 Comments

  1. Went there last year, it was a bit spooky, but good

  2. awesome. We visited the bone chapel about 25 years ago. When we returned to our car, it was gone. Long story but it was not stolen. It was towed. One of my favorite memories was communicating with the polizia in that town.

  3. There is another bone chapel in Sedlec just outside Kutna Hora in the Czeck Republic. When I went there it was an entrance fee, although not a high one.

  4. Talk about a creepy poem … cool place to visit in Portugal, though – will try to see it someday!

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