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[Pete Richards]

10

Massacre



In the Ossuary Chapel of the Cathedral of Otranto, Italy, the remains of the victims of a massacre in 1480 preside over the high altar straddled by rich gold candlesticks.

[Pete Richards]

9

San Martino



The Ossuary Chapel of San Martino Della Battaglia in Italy is the most ordered of all the bone houses on this list. Row upon row, column upon column of human remains rest in perfect order as if they were books in a macabre library. In all there are 2,619 deceased here with 1,274 skulls.

[Pete Richards]

8

St Hilaire Cemetery



By no means the most extravagant collection of bones on this list, the St Hilaire cemetery in Marville, France gets its beauty from simplicity. It is unique in that may of the skulls are housed in small cabinets inscribed with funerary inscriptions.

[Pete Richards]

7

Chapel of Bones



The Chapel of Bones is in the Church of Nossa Senhora do Carmo in Faro, Portugal. In addition to the walls and ceilings of bones of members of the religious Carmelite order, death is even found underfoot where the paving stones are headstones for the deceased priors and local dignitaries.

[Pete Richards]

6

Painted Skulls



The skulls at the Chapel of St Michael in Hallstatt, Austria are famous for having been painted. The painted skulls are almost all male as they were outlived by their wives who would decorate them. Unfortunately the wives’ remains were left to their children who were less concerned with decorating the dead so they remain unpainted.

[Pete Richards]

5

Sedlec Ossuary



The Sedlec Ossuary (Ossuary of All Saints) in the Czech Republic is one of the most famous bone houses in the world. It doesn’t just lay the bones to rest – it uses them as extravagant deathly decorations. It is especially famed for the huge chandelier made entirely of human remains – part of which can be seen in the top left of this photograph.

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