While churches are institutions of religion and faith, some of them are also the epitome of fine architecture. Normally, you would expect churches with candles, flowers, and all things sacred. Right? It is highly unlikely and ungodly (if I dare say) to expect terrifying things like human remains.
Yet there exist a few bizarre churches in the world where the interior’s theme is bone and skulls. If you are a goth or have a liking for all things eerie, these 5 ghostly churches with terrifying macabre art will give you a ‘bone chilling experience.
1. Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic
The Bone of Church will welcome you with 40,000 bones. There is a bone chandelier, a family crest in bone, skull candle holders, and six enormous pyramids made of guess what bones. There is not even a single bone in the human body that you would not find here. The history of the church goes back to the 13th century. So, you can imagine how old all these bones and skeletons are. These bones belong to the people who wanted to be buried on the ‘holy soil’ brought back from the Grave of God in Jerusalem.
2. Hallstatt Karner in Hallstatt, Austria
Thanks to the Hallstatt Ossuary, this town in Austria has the largest collection of painted skulls in the world. The Ossuary is located right next to a Parish church and is visited by thousands of travelers every year. The tradition of painting skulls goes back to the 19th century and belonged to a cultural area in the eastern Alpine region.
3. Capuchin Crypts in Rome, Italy
The inspiration behind the arrangement of skeletons in Capuchin Crypts is none other than Sedlec Ossuary. Some 4,000 skeletons in Capuchin Crypts in Rome belong to the monks who died between 1528 and 1570. The reason why they were all buried here is that in the end, they all must like here. The monks after them decorated the bones of their dead brethren to remind themselves that death could come to them any time. There is an interesting plaque in the crypt that reads “What you are now, we once were; what we are now, you shall be.” Terrifying when you see so many bones together, but true. Photography inside the crypt is strictly prohibited.
4. Skull Chapel in Czermna, Poland
I bet you have never seen anything more striking and frightening as the Skull Chapel in Poland. Here, the roof and the walls are lined up with skulls and bones. The very sight of this chapel is terrifying. The skull Chapel is the creation of a local priest, Vaclav Tomasek, who collected the remains from the shallow graves left behind by wars and cholera outbreaks. Even his skull and bones after he died were placed on the altar.
5. Wamba Ossuary in Wamba, Spain
As you enter the space of Wanna Ossuary, you will be astounded to find a densely packed wall of bones studded with some 3,000 human skulls. This place was not created out of religious sentiment, but a necessity. When there was not enough space in the local cemetery between the 12 to 18th centuries, the bones of the dead were stacked together.
Gives you goosebumps, doesn’t it?
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