We arrived in Rome by plane from Croatia. After getting settled in the hotel we took the metro downtown to check out the Colosseum.
Roman gate:
Colosseum:
Street artists:
Caryl asking the police if it's legal to drink in public in Rome (Croatia spoiled him). It's not. You get a fine:
Big park behind our hotel:
On our first full sightseeing day we continued our bone church world tour. We started by seeing two different Roman catacombs, the old Christian burial grounds (made popular by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).
Unfortunately, photos are not allowed in the catacombs. They resemble deep underground maze caves with lots of sealed or empty graves along the walls. Some even had the remains of early (~400 AD) Christian frescos!
We finished off the day with a visit to the Capuchin Crypt, a proper bone church. Of all the bone churches we've seen, this one, in my opinion, was the most creepy. It has whole mummified monk skeletons, complete with dried flesh, and the most elaborate bone decorations.
A little history on the Capuchin bone church:
Created in the first half of the eighteenth century, the Capuchin Crypt arose from the need to make room for new bodies in the friary's cemetery. The Capuchins left San Bonaventura, located near the Trevi Fountain, in 1631 and came to live in their current location, which is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They needed to find a suitable burial place for the exhumed bodies they brought with them.
The bones were arranged in order along the walls of the chapel, and the crypt began to be used as a burial site for the friars and paupers. The first mention of ornamentation was in 1775, when the Marquis de Sade visited the cemetery. It is assumed that the work was completed in the period between 1732-1775. The mortal remains of approximately 3,700 people, mostly Capuchin monks, are gathered in this place in a corridor about 30 meters in length with 6 chambers along its side. As in the last bone church we visited, dirt was brought from the holy land, either Palestine or Jerusalem, to consecrate the land.
While the artist behind this work is unknown, there are several theories as to who created the artistic ornamentation. One theory is that it was Father Raffaele da Roma, a talented Capuchin friar and painter who died in Rome in 1805. Others have suggested that the artist may have been Father Norbert Baumgartner from Vienna, another renowned Capuchin painter whose paintings still hang in the church above the ossuary.
Today, they strictly forbid photography in the cemetery portion of the church. However, they do sell low quality postcards. I am attaching pictures I took of the postcards to give an idea of what the ossuary looks like. I apologize for the crappy quality of the pictures.
The church from the outside:
And inside:
Roman gate:
Colosseum:
Street artists:
Caryl asking the police if it's legal to drink in public in Rome (Croatia spoiled him). It's not. You get a fine:
Big park behind our hotel:
On our first full sightseeing day we continued our bone church world tour. We started by seeing two different Roman catacombs, the old Christian burial grounds (made popular by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).
Unfortunately, photos are not allowed in the catacombs. They resemble deep underground maze caves with lots of sealed or empty graves along the walls. Some even had the remains of early (~400 AD) Christian frescos!
We finished off the day with a visit to the Capuchin Crypt, a proper bone church. Of all the bone churches we've seen, this one, in my opinion, was the most creepy. It has whole mummified monk skeletons, complete with dried flesh, and the most elaborate bone decorations.
A little history on the Capuchin bone church:
Created in the first half of the eighteenth century, the Capuchin Crypt arose from the need to make room for new bodies in the friary's cemetery. The Capuchins left San Bonaventura, located near the Trevi Fountain, in 1631 and came to live in their current location, which is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They needed to find a suitable burial place for the exhumed bodies they brought with them.
The bones were arranged in order along the walls of the chapel, and the crypt began to be used as a burial site for the friars and paupers. The first mention of ornamentation was in 1775, when the Marquis de Sade visited the cemetery. It is assumed that the work was completed in the period between 1732-1775. The mortal remains of approximately 3,700 people, mostly Capuchin monks, are gathered in this place in a corridor about 30 meters in length with 6 chambers along its side. As in the last bone church we visited, dirt was brought from the holy land, either Palestine or Jerusalem, to consecrate the land.
While the artist behind this work is unknown, there are several theories as to who created the artistic ornamentation. One theory is that it was Father Raffaele da Roma, a talented Capuchin friar and painter who died in Rome in 1805. Others have suggested that the artist may have been Father Norbert Baumgartner from Vienna, another renowned Capuchin painter whose paintings still hang in the church above the ossuary.
Today, they strictly forbid photography in the cemetery portion of the church. However, they do sell low quality postcards. I am attaching pictures I took of the postcards to give an idea of what the ossuary looks like. I apologize for the crappy quality of the pictures.
The church from the outside:
And inside:
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