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All Portugal Faro Capela de Ossos Bone Chapel

Capela de Ossos Bone Chapel

This small chapel is built of human bones and decorated with a golden skeleton.

Faro, Portugal

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Walls built of femurs   gustavo/Flickr
Exterior of the main church   Wikimedia
More monk bones   gustavo/Flickr
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About

With its big windows and light-filled sanctuary, the ossuary in Faro may be one of the cheeriest buildings made of human bones you'll encounter.

The inscription over the door reads: “Stop here and think of the fate that will befall you – 1816,” a helpful reminder put in place by the Carmelite monks who built the chapel that year on the grounds of the larger church dating to 1719.

It is not merely decorated with bones — the walls are constructed from femurs with mortar. Skulls and other bones are placed on the interior at regular intervals, including grinning down from the barrel-vaulted ceiling, giving the place a pleasing, yet spooky, symmetry. The highlight of the ossuary is a complete skeleton covered in gold that hangs at the front of the chapel. The practice of moving bones from cemetery plots into ossuaries after a period of time in the ground (usually seven to ten years) was common throughout Catholic Europe until recently. The bones in this ossuary are the remains of 1,245 monks whose bones were displaced when the ossuary was built. There are several other bone chapels in Portugal, the most famous being in Evora.

Related Tags

Ossuaries Catacombs And Crypts

Know Before You Go

Go to the rear of the Igreja do Carmo church to find the Capela dos Ossos. Make sure to avoid siesta time (between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon) as it closes. As of a visit in March of 2018 there is no golden skeleton in sight, but the chapel still quite a thing to behold.

Entrance ticket is two euros. 

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Added By

Annetta Black

Edited By

scamb66, pstorvik, Pericles Rosa, sashajackson...

  • scamb66
  • pstorvik
  • Pericles Rosa
  • sashajackson
  • marlaynaglynn
  • stephanefimbel

Published

October 25, 2009

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Sources
  • http://lloydi.com/travel-writing/portugal/algarve/day11.html
  • http://portugal-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/faros_secret_spooky_bone_chapel
  • http://gourmet-escapes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=83&Itemid=99999999&limit=1&limitstart=1
  • p.111-114 http://www.thamesandhudson.com/The_Empire_of_Death/9780500251782
  • https://www.7continents1passport.com/things-to-do-in-faro/
Capela de Ossos Bone Chapel
21 Largo do Carmo
Igreja do Carmo (aka. Nossa Senhora do Carmo)
Faro, 8000-148
Portugal
37.020213, -7.934657
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Palace of Estoi

Faro, Portugal

miles away

Cemetery of Anchors

Santa Luzia, Portugal

miles away

Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones)

Alcantarilha, Portugal

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Faro

Faro

Portugal

Places 2

Nearby Places

Palace of Estoi

Faro, Portugal

miles away

Cemetery of Anchors

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miles away

Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones)

Alcantarilha, Portugal

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Faro

Faro

Portugal

Places 2

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