Monk bones of Rome.
BONES
Yesterday's grisliness was the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo in Sicily. Today we see the bone-chapels in Rome, located in a church at Via Vittorio Veneto 27, just off Piazza Barberini. It is called the Cimitero dei Cappuccini or Capuchin Cemetery.
For centuries the deceased monks would have their bones placed in clever geometric arrangements in four small chapels located on one corridor. The bones and skulls and full skeletons of some 4000 friars decorate the walls, ceilings, and chandeliers. Work first began on the site in 1528 and was eventually completed in 1870.
The simple purpose was to remind the living monks of the transitoriness of their lives in this world. A sign in Italian tells all: What you are, I was. What I am, you will be.
I brought students here on a few different trips to Italy. The general reaction was that the place was "gross"...or else "cool"...which in adolescentspeak amount to the same thing.
Yesterday's grisliness was the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo in Sicily. Today we see the bone-chapels in Rome, located in a church at Via Vittorio Veneto 27, just off Piazza Barberini. It is called the Cimitero dei Cappuccini or Capuchin Cemetery.
For centuries the deceased monks would have their bones placed in clever geometric arrangements in four small chapels located on one corridor. The bones and skulls and full skeletons of some 4000 friars decorate the walls, ceilings, and chandeliers. Work first began on the site in 1528 and was eventually completed in 1870.
The simple purpose was to remind the living monks of the transitoriness of their lives in this world. A sign in Italian tells all: What you are, I was. What I am, you will be.
I brought students here on a few different trips to Italy. The general reaction was that the place was "gross"...or else "cool"...which in adolescentspeak amount to the same thing.