Ossuaries

Křtiny Ossuary

Mysterious painted skulls in Moravia

It's tough out there for the average to small-sized ossuary in the Czech Republic. There are the feelings of neglect and rejection when tourists won't give you the time of day. And of course the... »

Memento Mori, Ossuaries | Edited by atimian

St. Florian Ossuary

Personal charnel house of Anton Bruckner

Calling St. Florian Ossuary the personal charnel of Anton Bruckner might be a stretch. It might also sound like he killed everyone and buried their bones in a crypt for his own pleasure. The... »

Memento Mori, Ossuaries | Edited by atimian and Dylan

Eggenburg Charnel

Artfully arranged bones of 5,800 Austrians

Eggenburg Charnel dates back to the early 14th century, and is a frighteningly beautiful site. It's frightening in its medium of human remains, and beautiful in its detail as every bone is... »

Memento Mori, Ossuaries | Edited by atimian

Phnom Penh Memorial Stupa

5,000 skulls in memorial to those killed by the Khmer Rouge

After the Cambodian Civil War ended, the vicious rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge began. From 1975-1979, they killed 1.7 million people out of a population of 8 million. Many of those murdered... »

Memento Mori, Ossuaries | Edited by atimian and Dylan

St. Catherine's Monastery

Charnel house at the foot of Mount Sinai

Without a Bedouin guide, the Sinai is a vast, unnavigable expanse of desert. Rocky hills rise and fall underneath the blinding sun. And yet for thousands of years, this desolate peninsula was... »

Memento Mori, Ossuaries | Edited by atimian

Aitre St. Maclou

An ancient ossuary in Rouen

Although this 'aitre' now holds more students than bones, you can still find a mummified cat and morbid carvings in the old timber walls. The grounds of the Aitre de St. Maclou have been... »

Memento Mori, Ossuaries | Edited by A Facebook user and atimian

The Skull Tower of Niš

Structure built from the skulls of vanquished foes

Piling up heaps of skulls of your vanquished foes represented the apogee of barbaric warlord behavior. This ancient practice survived in some cultures well into the historic times. Ćele Kula,... »

Ossuaries | Edited by stanestane, fetherst and 4 others

Naval Underground Headquarters

Elaborate series of tunnels where traces of mass suicide are still visible

During World War II, Japanese naval forces in Okinawa, led by Rear Admiral Minoru Ota, built an elaborate underground headquarters, with hundreds of meters of connecting tunnels under a hill in... »

Memento Mori, Ossuaries, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Ghost Towns, Disaster Areas, Subterranean Sites | Edited by spinkk, Dylan and 2 others

Portugal's Chapel of Bones

16th Century chapel decorated with bones, skulls, and entire bodies hanging from the wall

The Chapel of Bones is part of the larger Royal Church of St. Francis and was constructed by Franciscan monks in the late 16th century. The Chapel's story is a familiar one. By the 16th... »

Ossuaries, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries | Edited by Dylan, Lockeblade and 2 others

San Bernardino alle Ossa

An Ossuary built in 1210 to collect bones from the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan

In 1145 in Via Brolo, Milan, a hospital was built near the Santo Stefano Maggiore Church. The graveyard, filling with bodies from the new hospital, soon proved insufficient. Not long after, in... »

Ossuaries, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries | Edited by Maya, Dylan and 4 others