15 ms·
Roman church decorated with 4k skeletons
- potatototoo99 4y agoAnother church decorated with skeletons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capela_dos_Ossos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capela_dos_Ossos
- belter 4y agoBeen there great place. It's also my desktop wallpaper...never again got interrupted by colleagues and junior developers during my coding sessions.
- mensetmanusman 4y agoMemento mori (Latin for 'remember that you [have to] die') is an artistic reminder of the inevitability of death. Helps me tremendously!
- Ichthypresbyter 4y agoOne of the more famous examples of this is the strange object in the foreground of The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger [0], which resolves as a skull when viewed from the correct angle. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_The_Ambassadors_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Hans_Hol...
- jxramos 4y agoexactly, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori
- DoingIsLearning 4y agoThere are plenty of chapels and crypts filled with bone/skull walls throughout catholic Europe, the author makes it look like this is quite unique and limited to three locations which is not entirely true.
- jdthedisciple 4y agoExcuse me sir, but now you're making it look like they are ubiquitous. Pretty sure that's not the case either. So I appreciate this post, first time I hear of this.
- 988747 4y agoFound one in Poland as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_Chapel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_Chapel EDIT: and in Portugal https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-europe/story-behind-frightening-chapel-bones-portugal-004540 https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-europe/story-... And in Czech Republic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary And in Peru: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_and_Convent_of_San_Francisco,_Lima https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_and_Convent_of_San_Fr... And another list with 40 entries: https://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/definitive-guide-to-ossuaries-crypts-and-catacombs https://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/definitive-guide-to-ossua...
- hef19898 4y agoThe crypts under Stefans Dom in Vienna are well worth a visit. To cite a kid during my visit: "Is grand pa looking like thatvas well now?" Also, there are the Parus catacombs.
- ginko 4y agoIf you're in Vienna you could also check out the Michaelergruft.
- tinglymintyfrsh 4y agoParis, I hope. There's a bag at the exit for visitors to return "souvenirs" if they change their mind.
- hef19898 4y agoOf course Paris... my fat fingering seems to get worse with age...
- glasss 4y agoOh man I thought it was 4K as in resolution and I was confused and intrigued.
- karaterobot 4y agoSame here. I thought "wow, 4K skeletons? That's pretty hi-death."
- shadowgovt 4y agoI was really tired of putting up with those standard definition skeletons.
- ubermonkey 4y agoThe previous skeletons, which were rendered in traditional HD, have been moved to a less expensive media market.
- CharlesW 4y agoRelated tip for submitters: When HN's title processing inadvertently adds ambiguity, you can edit it immediately after to improve it. (Original title is, "Decorated With 4,000 Skeletons, This Roman Church Will Have You Pondering Your Own Mortality", too long for HN)
- dylan604 4y agoJames Cameron would be proud as they're even in 3D
- martin-adams 4y agoLet's hope there's no ghosting though
- busyant 4y agoMy wife and I visited this place about 20 years ago. I remember a woman from Wisconsin laughing and proclaiming, "We Lutherans would never do anything like this!"
- parabyl 4y agoSimilar story, when I visited there was a school group from Northern Ireland talking about "The catholics were brutal weren't they!"
- hprotagonist 4y ago46. Keep death daily before your eyes. Rule of St Benedict https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/50040/pg50040-images.html#chapter-4 https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/50040/pg50040-images.html#c...
- capableweb 4y agoThis has helped me a lot to (what it feels like) take care more about what I spend my time on. As extra help, I have a printed page from https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html of the final "Your Life in Weeks" image which I fill out every week. Puts yet another perspective on the very same thing. Some people when they see it feel like it's macabre or stressful but it has the opposite effect on me, especially when dealing with problems that in hindsight are trivial.
- 6502nerdface 4y agoPersonally, I hang a "memento mori" near every mirror in the house, to remind him who would regard himself that what he sees will one day inevitably return to the earth.
- bruce343434 4y agoThat seems rather anxiety inducing. "Remember that you will die" is the saying, not "be obsessed with it".
- 6502nerdface 4y agoMostly they're just cool as works of art :). Still lifes with skulls and such.
- TheFreim 4y ago5:00AM every morning I receive a reminder on my phone: "You will die someday."
- brookst 4y ago
- monero-xmr 4y agoCatholics believe in "incorruptibility" as a sign of potential sainthood. This is where the body does not decompose. You can see the bodies on display https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorruptibility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorruptibility Catholics also believe in demonic possession, hell, and exorcism. Not the first things a priest will tell you though :)
- sorokod 4y agoThey also believe in a three person god. Not sure in which lesson this comes up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church#Nature_of_God https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church#Nature_of_God
- Grazester 4y agoGod the son, God the father and God the holy spirit(The trinity). Also mention in pray and referenced in the bible I believe.
- krapp 4y agoNo, the Trinity is never referenced in the Bible - God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are always treated as separate entities. The doctrine was made up by the Church to avoid the obvious polytheistic implications in the straightforward interpretation of canon.
- aeneasmackenzie 4y agoJesus and the Father are equated in the very first verse of John.
- krapp 4y ago"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" isn't exactly straightforward.
- ndr 4y agoMilan has its own: > In 1210, when an adjacent cemetery ran out of space, a room was built to hold bones. A church was attached in 1269. Renovated in 1679, it was destroyed by a fire in 1712. A new bigger church was then attached to the older one and dedicated to Saint Bernardino of Siena. Some pictures here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_alle_Ossa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_alle_Ossa
- VadimPR 4y agoBeautiful place. The crypt includes a quote that really resonates with you - translated to English - "you are what we were; you will be what we are"
- beezlebroxxxxxx 4y agoReminds me of some lines in the final stanza of Tennyson's Ulysses: Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' / We are not now that strength which in old days / Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
- peter422 4y ago“Look alive, see these bones What you are now, we were once But just like we are, you'll be dust And just like we are, permanent” -Nada Surf “See These Bones”
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- soco 4y ago"Wherever you go, death follows, as a body’s shadow." (in the Paris catacombs)
- parabyl 4y agoTruly beautiful place, and one of the more interesting museums I visited in Rome in terms of artifacts and such on display.
- penguin_booze 4y agoI've heard a perhaps more poetic version: as you are, so was I; as I am, so will you.
- hackernewds 4y agoBeautiful
- bmj 4y ago"You will become what I am." (https://death-to-the-world.myshopify.com/products/you-will-become-what-i-am-sticker https://death-to-the-world.myshopify.com/products/you-will-b...)
- pastor_bob 4y agoInteresting thing about this place is that's it's illegal to decorate with Human Remains in Italy now, so if a bone falls off the wall, they legally can't put it back!
- smegsicle 4y agothough there is a convenient loophole known as the 'five second rule'
- fishtacos 4y ago[flagged]
- sbaiddn 4y agoThat's because you (presumably not a Catholic or, like most, a poorly catechized one) are projecting your values and view points onto a faith you don't understand. Classic cultural colonialism if you ask me. There's literally two millennia (well 5 if you include the Old Testament and commentary) literature on the Church's position on matter, the body, corpses, life, death, afterlife, etc. necessary to understand this. Have you read a significant amount (any!) of this to reach your conclusion?
- fishtacos 4y ago>>That's because you (presumably not a Catholic or, like most, a poorly catechized one) are projecting your values and view points onto a faith you don't understand. I'm atheist. Was born one, will die one, so you are correct. >>Classic cultural colonialism if you ask me. What makes you draw that conclusion? I'm an immigrant, have been exposed to everything from Islam to Catholicism to Southern Baptist, Hinduism, Buddhism, various other sects. I'd rather look inward, if I were, you, as colonialism in the name of Catholicism is why so many native cultures and religions have been erased from history and existence. >>There's literally two millennia (well 5 if you include the Old Testament and commentary) literature on the Church's position on matter, the body, corpses, life, death, afterlife, etc. necessary to understand this. And it remains a death cult at its core, despite sparkling it up with positions of corpses... >>Have you read a significant amount (any!) of this to reach your conclusion? I've read enough to know it's all BS. My close friend and cousin, someone who is a brother to me, spent years at the Vatican's liturgical schools. A+++ student. They wanted to make him a priest and he politely declined. He is an atheist thanks to that education. Thanks but no thanks.
- gigibec 4y ago[dead]
- 4y ago
- boredemployee 4y agothese photos make me anxious for unknown reasons
- fishtacos 4y agoYou know why.
- boredemployee 4y agodo I
- belval 4y agoThe Paris catacombs, while lacking the Catholic aspect really resonated with me. There is something so incredibly humbling in looking at literally million of skulls and realizing that we are ultimately as insignificant as they were.
- xwdv 4y agoNot being able to comprehend their significance is not the same as them being insignificant.
- junon 4y ago... missing the point entirely.
- BizarreByte 4y agoThat’s an optimistic take, in reality it’s proof of the fundamental truth that we don’t actually matter and that nothing we do will ultimately matter. You couldn't even know the name of a person who had one of the skulls, much less know anything they ever did. Their lives were, like ours, completely irrelevant long term. This has to be one of the hardest things for a living human to accept.
- steveBK123 4y agoIt's interesting how in less modern times, death was more ever present and yet they still went out of their way to remind people about it. The modern world by contrast, one can go well into their 30s without personally being touched by it in your family/friends circle. We could use the reminder of it now more than then, and yet we sanitize & Disney-fy everything instead.
- sbaiddn 4y agoIm nearing 40 and the only person "close" to me that has died is my grandpa, but I barely knew him since I grew up half way around the world. As an (immature) adult I saw him twice. Twice as a teen. Once as a child post-migration. I loved him so dearly as a young child yet, when he passed, it barely registered.
- tobyjsullivan 4y agoThe article presents so much mystique around the origin of the artful arrangement. All I could think while reading is this is what happens when the head friar tells the new kid, “the crypt has become a complete mess, can you head down there and make it nice?” And then doesn’t check in on his progress.
- photochemsyn 4y agoA great many people are incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of death, and installations like this, and similar works of art, are a great antidote. Accepting death as the price of life might be a bit difficult for people raised in a culture that worships perpetual youth and which dreams of immortality, perhaps in the form of a digital silicon upload, but it's really a sign of maturity. Taking a minute or so out of every day to meditate upon the inevitablity of your own death is good for one's mental health - and can be motivating. If there's something you want to do, do it now - tomorrow is not guaranteed!
- user3939382 4y ago"Who promised you tomorrow?" - St. Alphonsus Liguori, Preparation for Death
- Aeolun 4y agoIn some ways, the 10000+ previous days of my life are a fairly reasonable promise of tomorrow.
- tspike 4y agoGambler's fallacy
- skeaker 4y ago"Okay, wow. You don't want me to kill you because you have so much to live for? Umm, sunk cost fallacy, heard of it?"
- brookst 4y ago“No, no, I have an MBA, I’d never fall for sunk cost. I’m all in on the ‘I’ll travel the world and do all the crazy fun stuff after I retire’ fallacy.”
- akomtu 4y ago
- cloudify 4y agoOn a similar vein, if you visit Milan, go see "San Bernardino alle ossa", little known but quite worth a visit! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_alle_Ossa#/media/File:San_Bernardino_ossuary_2.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_alle_Ossa#/medi...
- inglor_cz 4y agoA very similar place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary The bones belong to about 40 thousand people. Realizing that this enormous boneyard is, by size, equivalent to 0,6 per cent of the Holocaust, is extremely sobering.
- DubiousPusher 4y agoI would encourage everyone to visit here or one of the similar places mentioned in this thread. I visited the Sedlec Ossuary a couple of years ago and it was the most visceral personal emotional reaction I have ever had to seeing something. There is something mind-shifting about seeing thousands of human skulls in a pile ala Terminator that I cannot describe with words. I can only relate it to visiting the Vietnam War Memorial and realizing how those overwhelming 60,000ish names are a mere footnote in the casualty record of human conflict. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary
- sitkack 4y agoThe Sedlec Ossuary is, or probably should be a great VR experience if you can't go in person (I have). The shock wears off and then you realize how human the place is. We whisk our dead out of sight, having the bones of your dead relatives be so visible, would be like having a time compass directing the path of the rest of your life.
- Aeolun 4y agoIt’d be kind of weird to bring someone there, count down the eleventh skull from the top right and then say “this here is grandpa”.
- DubiousPusher 4y agoAgreed. I wanted to keep my post brief so I didn't elucidate. Once that feeling had passed, I didn't posses the sombre semse of mortality that others expressed in this thread. My thoughts were not carpe diem. I didn't update my bucket list. Rather it gave me a stronger awareness of human connectedness. These are the bones of relatively few people in the grand scheme collected over several hundred years. This is just the tip of an iceberg of all human remains, most chucked into the ground and eventually forgotten but at the same time not without consequence. Because every moment of today is stamped indelibly by these peoples' existence. The crops they grew and things they built and lessons they taught marked the generations after them. It is a permanent mark in the continuity of human culture. For lack of a better term, it brought me a deep sense of solidarity as a human. It was somewhat radicalizing.
- stewx 4y agoAnd here I am with 1080 skeletons in my house.
- Hikikomori 4y agoVisited it by accident the first day in Rome, just happened to walk by. They have a museum before the crypt where each room had some theme and used different bones. Not particularly religious but it was interesting to see. Seemed like someone spent time in their crypt and had too much time and bones on their hands.
- peoplefromibiza 4y agoYep, great place, been there sooo many times, it used to be free, now there's a small fee to pay at the entrance which also includes a visit to the museum of the Capuchins. You'll find there the San Francesco in Meditazione (San Francis in Prayer) painting from Caravaggio. [1] The English Wikipedia reports it as a copy, but it is still debated if the original is the one in Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini (Our Lady of the Conception of the Capuchins) or the other one in Palazzo Barberini. Fun fact: both paintings are in Piazza Barberini, a few hundred meters from each other. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Francis_in_Prayer_(Caravaggio) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Francis_in_Prayer_(Carav...
- racl101 4y agoI would not sleep in that room.
- brainlessdev 4y agoFrom Marcus Aurelius's Meditations: Mortal man, you have lived as a citizen in this great city. What matter if that life is five or fifty ears? The laws of the city apply equally to all. So what is there to fear in your dismissal from the city? This is no tyrant or corrupt judge who dismisses you, but the very same nature that brought you in. It is like the officer who engaged a comic actor dismissing him from the stage. 'But I have not played my five acts, only three.' 'True, but in life three acts can be the whole play.' Completion is determined by that being who caused first your composition and now your dissolution. You have no part in either causation. Go then in peace: the god who lets you go is at peace with you. I find the idea frightening but at the same time soothing: life is something one returns, like anything else one could have, one day it will no longer be there; it needs to be returned.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- 1970-01-01 4y agoThey should upscale these to 8K using AI.
- martyvis 4y agoA former primary school colleague (we met 50 years ago next year!) and his daughter wrote a pretty decent book on death anxiety - "Mortals: How the Fear of Death Shaped Human Society" https://good-grief.com.au/mortals-with-ross-and-rachel-menzies/ https://good-grief.com.au/mortals-with-ross-and-rachel-menzi...
- snshn 4y ago"It's too late to be scared, the skeleton is already inside you"
- Wojtkie 4y agoI've actually visited this place! It was a very informative visit and had a great museum attached. I found a lot of it beautiful
- Earw0rm 4y agoSo many metal album covers in this.
- Barrin92 4y agoI went to a Catholic school growing up, my parents weren't religious and I largely had no relationship to the faith but one thing that always fascinated me growing up was the old, imposing Gothic church that the students celebrated mass in, which as a kid always was a little bit scary to me. This church with death on display reminds me of that and to me what's always been striking is that there's almost a pagan or occult undercurrent in Catholicism. I think Midnight Mass, a great show btw, captures this as well. Trying to show how much of an actual blood ritual the Catholic Eucharist is. (in Catholicism bread and wine are taken to be transformed into literally(!), not figuratively the blood and body of Christ). Also wherever Catholicism mixes with folk traditions this is visible, with figures like Santa Muerte in Latin America. And while the Catholic church usually distances itself from this, it's always interesting how easily these traditions blend.
- budzes 4y agoSimilar church in Czech Republic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary The Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic chapel, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints, part of the former Sedlec Abbey in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, whose bones have, in many cases, been artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- milleramp 4y agoI wonder how they mount them to the wall and ceiling?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- squarefoot 4y agoI have been there as a kid. I might have been too young to process the experience like something related to death, but I recall I didn't feel anything in particular; it left me with absolutely nothing but thinking "why on earth would someone cover a place with skeletons?". It probably contributed much later to my aversion to horror movies.
- pinko 4y agoThere's a modern hotel in the attached original monastery. I attended a scientific conference there a few years ago. Very cool, very weird venue to spend a few days.