What I think is kind of funny about the dark imagery found in metal art and music is that a lot of it stems from the religions of this world – religions that claim to comfort while investing heavily in fear. The Catholic Church was obsessed with skulls, bones, demons and death imagery long before the 20th century dawning of metal and goth, and used dark imagery and human remains to create a powerful and fearful impression on its followers, reminding them of their certain death and potential fate in the afterlife. All over Europe in the Middle Ages, monks built magnificent chapels out of the bones of plague victims, massacre victims and members of their own ranks. When our baby is a little older, we want to tour Europe and visit all of the bone chapels; places like the Kostnice Ossuary in Czech Republic, made of the bones of 40,000 to 70,000 people; the Capela dos Ossos in Alcantarilha, Évora and Faro, Portugal; the Cathedral of Otranto in Italy, where the remains of 800 massacre victims line the walls of the chapel; the Ossuary Chapel of San Martino, and the Capuchin Crypt in Rome; and the Chapel of St Michael in Hallstatt, Austria. These aren’t the only bone chapels to be found on the continent, but they are some of the best known, and you can find stunning images of them after the jump and in the gorgeous photography book The Empire of Death. Entering a place filled with the bones of so many human beings must be a humbling experience – the energies retained in its walls, the lives of health and solitude or sickness and violence, all looming over you and multiplying in arches and columns overhead. I can only guess at the feelings I would have in such a place. I think I would be literally breathless. Check out a vast gallery of bones after the jump…
Avantia
March 30, 2015 at 5:17 pm
One of my life goals is to visit them all and make a photobook for myself.
Here is what I have for now -> https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.728443937247284.1073741831.217491138342569&type=3
Looking forward to be in the next place, which should be the one in Palermo, hopefully.
Reow
April 8, 2013 at 2:18 am
I’ve also been to a number of these and I can’t speak highly enough of visiting them. For me, it is a morbid curiosity, coupled with a need to experience new things, joined with the the adrenalin rush I get from my fear of such things. Capela dos Ossos and the Parisian Catacombs are the highest on my still-to-do list.
Although not bones, as such, my favourite to date has Catacombe dei Cappuccini in Palermo, Italia. The sheer immensity of it coupled with the fact that I was the only person down there (and bribed the monk on the door sufficiently that he didn’t care what pictures I took) made it an incredible experience. By contrast, I travelled hundreds of kms out of my way to see Kostnice v Sedlci, and was very disappointed at how small the chapel is. You can see more impressive skull pyramids (not to mention bone walls) if you break off from the conducted tour of the Stephansdom Catacombs (Wien, Austria) and explore some of the off-limits corridors. That said, the bone chandelier and winged skeletons alone make Kostnice worth it.
I would love some recommendations on other places like this around the world.
Dylan Smith
March 7, 2013 at 10:38 am
Great collection of photos. Ever since I visited the ossuary in Rome, Capuchin Crypt, I’ve been planning trips specifically around different tombs.
Jantine
February 28, 2013 at 1:52 am
Great post, never heard of that book but it’s already
on my wish list! 😉
I visited two of the mentioned places last year, The
Catacombs in Paris and Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic, and both really
made an impression. I was surprised to learn that not everybody was impressed
though: when my boyfriend and I left the Catacombs in Paris we got our bags
searched ’cause people often steal skulls. I was amazed that this happened, but
when the guy who searched the bags showed his catch of the day (they’ve been
open for two hours and he already found two skulls that day) I can imagine that
they have to do such a thing. I can’t imagine how you could ruin such a place though,
it’s definitely a humbling experience like you described.
Another thing about my Paris visit: there was this
Metal-couple posing for every skull-wall in these awesome black-metal-poses, it
was hilarious 😉
If you’d like to see some of the photos I took at the
Catacombs and the Sedlec Ossuary you could do so on my blog:
Sedlec Ossuary:
http://www.bleaq.com/2012/personal-post-the-sedlec-ossuary-in-the-czech-republic
Catacombs in
Paris: http://www.bleaq.com/2012/personal-post-catacombes-de-paris
Sorry for the long comment 😉