Qesm Saint Katrin, Egypt
St. Catherine's Monastery
Charnel house at the foot of Mount Sinai.
Places I want to go
Places on this traveler's wishlist.
Qesm Saint Katrin, Egypt
Charnel house at the foot of Mount Sinai.
Rouen, France
An ancient ossuary in Rouen.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
5,000 skulls in memorial to those killed by the Khmer Rouge.
Eggenburg, Austria
Artfully arranged bones of 5,800 Austrians.
Gemeinde Sankt Florian, Austria
The personal charnel house of Anton Bruckner.
Waldsassen, Germany
Skeletons dressed in extravagant 18th century royal costumes cavort in the aisles of this German basilica.
Palermo, Italy
Thousands of well-dressed mummies below a monastery.
Křtiny, Czechia
Mysterious painted skulls in Moravia.
Brno, Czechia
Europe's second largest ossuary wasn't discovered until 2001.
Lima, Peru
The mortal remains of an estimated 70,000 people lie in the basement of a monastery in Lima, Peru.
Marville, France
The remains of 40,000 humans, meticulously stacked in a tiny churchyard shed.
Naples, Italy
Skulls from the plague of 1656 and World War II bombings are united by a cult dedicated to caring for the ancient dead.
Lampa, Peru
This Peruvian bone silo lined with hanging human skeletons and hundreds of skulls is topped with a remarkable Michelangelo replica.
Wamba, Spain
One of the largest ossuaries in Spain is packed from floor to ceiling with bones.
Oppenheim, Germany
This German bone house contains the remains of some 20,000 souls.
Hythe, England
A house of bones — but nobody is quite sure to whom they belong.
Kudowa-Zdrój, Poland
The walls and ceiling of this Polish church are decorated with thousands of skulls, with another 21,000 skeletons just below.
Cham, Germany
In 1830, cemetery workers in Cham unearthed a chamber housing thousands of skeletal remains from the 13th century, which can still be viewed today.
Paris, France
The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.
Cologne, Germany
A church filled with the bones of hundreds of virgins martyrs—or so they say.
London, England
This landmark church concealed a crypt packed with bones that was discovered thanks to the London Blitz.
Melnik, Czechia
Underneath this small church are 15,000 bones, arranged by an obsessive academic.
Otranto, Italy
A 1,000-year-old church holds the bones of the Christian martyrs who died hiding inside it.
Rome, Italy
The crypts of Capuchin friars decorated with the bones of over 4,000 friars, including an entire "crypt of pelvises."