Ossuaries are buildings or containers where human skeletal remains are kept as way to reduce the space needed to store human remains. They are typically used in locales that need to re-use burial plots because space for graveyards is very… Read More ›
Charnel houses are monuments that serve as reminders that the physical world is fleeting, are shrines that honor patriotic sacrifice, places to commune with the dead, or memorialize the atrocities of genocide. The skull map of Cambodia at the Tuol… Read More ›
The Sedlec Ossuary is a charnel house filled with the remains of an estimated 40,000 people. This “bone church” is famous for its macabre human bone decorations that fill every corner of the building. Although impressive today, the intricate décor… Read More ›
In the Cathedral of Otranto are five large display cases that contain the bones of the “martyrs of Otranto.” The skulls face the cathedral’s visitors and are mixed with long bones and bones of the pelvis. In one of the… Read More ›
Soldiers have removed body parts from corpses to keep as trophies as souvenirs of war since ancient times. According to Katy Meyers Emery, mortuary archaeologist and bioarchaeologist, human remains as souvenirs of war can be divided into two categories, trophies… Read More ›
Though the European bone houses are some of the most famous in the world, there are similar charnels in Asia. Located in Biru County in the Nagchu Prefacture in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is the Biru Skull Wall, or… Read More ›
Every year in the week following the Day of the Dead, the citizens of La Paz, Bolivia gather at the chapel of the General Cemetery to celebrate Dia de los Natitas, or the Day of the Skulls. The skulls are… Read More ›
In 1848 and 1866 the Italians fought two battles at Custoza, in northern Italy near Verona, during their struggle for independence against the Austrian Empire. An ossuary was built in 1879 to honor the thousands of soldiers who lost their lives… Read More ›
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917) was born in the in the Italian village of Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, in northern Italy. Frances Cabrini was born a few months premature and suffered health problems the rest of her life because of complications associated… Read More ›
For some cultures death is the beginning of a spiritual purification process that starts with decomposition and ends with skeletonization. The people in these cultures believe that before a soul can reunite with their ancestors in the Land of the Dead the body must completely… Read More ›
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