Ultimate Guide Skulls and Skeletons

by Michelle Cassidy

66 Places

London, England

Tower of London Barbary Lion Skulls

The bones of two medieval royal lions were discovered at the historic fortress.

Monsieur Mictlan

Added by Monsieur Mictlan

Castiglione delle Stiviere, Italy

St. Aloysius Gonzaga Skull

The skull of this patron saint is kept in a shrine located in his hometown.

Added by Lakehurst

Acolman, Mexico

Museum of Tepexpan

A museum built around the site where the most controversial human remains in the country were found.

Mario Yair TS

Added by Mario Yair TS

Palenque, Mexico

Rabbit Skull Relief

The enigmatic skull gazes out over the ruins of a once-great Mayan city.

Monsieur Mictlan

Added by Monsieur Mictlan

London, England

The Aurochs Skull

The gigantic skull of a long-extinct species that once roamed the forests of England and Ireland.

Monsieur Mictlan

Added by Monsieur Mictlan

Denver, Colorado

The Learned Lemur

A small store filled with animal skulls and other curiosities.

LongDayswithJenny

Added by LongDayswithJenny

Araluen, Australia

Gympie Bone Museum

Australia's first and only museum dedicated exclusively to bones.

Girl In The Sublunary

Added by Girl In The Sublunary

Stockholm, Sweden

'The Battle of Gotland 1361' Exhibit

This grisly exhibit houses skeletons and weapons from a devastating 14th-century clash.

Luis Morato

Added by Luis Morato

Valletta, Malta

St. John’s Co-Cathedral Skeleton Tombstones

The floor of this spectacular Baroque sanctuary is covered in memento mori.

Monsieur Mictlan

Added by Monsieur Mictlan

The Green Skeleton

This Bronze Age man spent millennia buried in a mine, giving his bones an eerie hue.

Monsieur Mictlan

Added by Monsieur Mictlan

London, England

The Charterhouse Black Death Skeleton

This historic building displays the remains of a victim of the devastating 14th-century plague.

Monsieur Mictlan

Added by Monsieur Mictlan

Zurich, Switzerland

Kulturama

Zurich's evolution museum hosts a unique collection of skeletons among its natural history treasures.

Vololona

Added by Vololona

Folkestone, England

Aefre

These 1,500-year-old remains were found in a mysterious Anglo-Saxon mass grave.

Monsieur Mictlan

Added by Monsieur Mictlan

Midland, South Dakota

Skeleton Man Walking Skeleton Dinosaur

Just a man taking his prehistoric pet for a stroll.

Added by solhermana

Rothwell, England

Rothwell Bone Crypt

Under a church hides a forgotten 13th-century ossuary containing the remains of around 2,500 people.

Added by Sarah Farrow

Salisbury, England

The Skeletons of Stonehenge

Ancient human remains unearthed around the iconic monument.

satxwdavis

Added by satxwdavis

Lovers of Valdaro

A young Italian couple has been locked in an embrace for over 6,000 years.

Added by Lakehurst

San Martino della Battaglia, Italy

Ossario di San Martino

The skulls and bones of thousands of soldiers line the walls of this small Italian chapel.

Added by 2wandering

Leuk, Switzerland

Leuk Charnel House

For centuries no one knew there were hundreds of bones and precious artwork hidden beneath this Swiss church.

jackdebear

Added by jackdebear

Melnik, Czechia

Melník Chapel of Bones

Underneath this small church are 15,000 bones, arranged by an obsessive academic.

Added by CPilgrim

Chammünster Ossuary

In 1830, cemetery workers in Cham unearthed a chamber housing thousands of skeletal remains from the 13th century, which can still be viewed today.

pieofthemonth

Added by pieofthemonth

Dingolfing, Germany

Dingolfing Ossuary

In a small churchyard in Dingolfing, Germany the quaint Schusterkapelle is there to remind you of your imminent mortality.

pieofthemonth

Added by pieofthemonth

Wamba Ossuary

One of the largest ossuaries in Spain is packed from floor to ceiling with bones.

SamM

Convento de San Francisco Ossuary

The mortal remains of an estimated 70,000 people lie in the basement of a monastery in Lima, Peru.

Added by zeppomarks

Kutna Hora, Czechia

Sedlec Ossuary ‘Bone Church’

A church of bones, decorated with 40,000 human skeletons.

Waldsassen, Germany

The Skeletons of Waldsassen Basilica

Skeletons dressed in extravagant 18th century royal costumes cavort in the aisles of this German basilica.

Capuchin Monastery Catacombs

Thousands of well-dressed mummies below a monastery.

Added by CPilgrim

Eggenburg, Austria

Eggenburg Charnel

Artfully arranged bones of 5,800 Austrians.

atimian

Added by atimian

An Hải, Vietnam

Lang Tan Temple (Temple of the Whale)

Home to what locals claim is the largest whale skeleton in Southeast Asia, which is worshiped yearly.

Josh

The Room of 10,000 Ancient Skulls

Lima’s Museum of Anthropology is lined with thousands of elongated human craniums.

lewblank

Added by lewblank

The Skull Tower of Nis

Structure built from the skulls of vanquished foes.

stanestane

Added by stanestane

Évora, Portugal

Portugal’s Chapel of Bones

A 16th century chapel decorated with bones, skulls, and entire bodies hanging from the wall.

Dylan

Pomuch Cemetery

Once a year in Pomuch, the dead are taken out for a cleaning.

St. Leonard's Church Basement Ossuary

A house of bones — but nobody is quite sure to whom they belong.

Added by Elielux

Kudowa-Zdrój, Poland

Kaplica Czaszek (Chapel of Skulls)

The walls and ceiling of this Polish church are decorated with thousands of skulls, with another 21,000 skeletons just below.

Dylan

Hallstatt, Austria

Hallstatt Charnel House

An Austrian house of bones filled with hundreds of intricately painted skulls.

Santa Maria della Concezione Crypts

The crypts of Capuchin friars decorated with the bones of over 4,000 friars, including an entire "crypt of pelvises."

Dylan

Catacombes de Paris

The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.

Louisville, Kentucky

Shrine of Saints Magnus and Bonosa

The only building in Louisville (hopefully) that contains two ancient holy skeletons.

Stephen J Taylor

Added by Stephen J Taylor

Mondsee, Austria

The Altar of the Basilica of St. Michael

This skeleton-filled altar piece served as a backdrop to one of the most iconic scenes in "The Sound of Music."

pieofthemonth

Added by pieofthemonth

Rott am Inn, Germany

Skeletons of Rott am Inn

These jeweled relics have a scandalous and contested past.

pieofthemonth

Added by pieofthemonth

Chișcău, Romania

Bears' Cave

This bone-filled cave got its name after they found 140 bear skeletons inside.

Lizzy Mae van Son

Added by Lizzy Mae van Son

The Cave of the Glowing Skulls

These Honduran caves earned their magical nickname thanks to reflective bone deposits.

Added by nickylopez24

Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy

This museum houses an imposing skeleton army comprised of creatures great and small.

philoursmars

Added by philoursmars

Mexico City, Mexico

Mosaic Votive Skull

The turquoise-studded skull of a long-dead Aztec man sits within Mexico City’s Museum of Anthropology.

Monsieur Mictlan

Added by Monsieur Mictlan

Chiesa del Purgatorio

Skulls and skeletons are omnipresent in this church dedicated to souls trapped in purgatory.

StepYoshi

Added by StepYoshi

London, England

Walbrook Skulls

It's a mystery why these remains were found with no traces of their bodies in sight.

Monsieur Mictlan

Added by Monsieur Mictlan

Toronto, Ontario

SkullStore Oddity Shop

A collection of human remains, animal body parts, and other macabre curiosities all legally for sale.

buyskulls

Added by buyskulls

Map