Creepy, Creative Capuchin Crypt but Very Fascinating

Creepy and weird.

Creative and clever.

Those are the words we chose to describe our impressions of the Capuchin Crypt in Rome. It was a very unique and reverent experience! 

The human bones of roughly 4,000 friars, believed to have died between 1528 and 1870, are artistically arranged into lamps, chandeliers, crosses, an hour glass, ceiling ornaments, etc. 

From what we learned, as friars died, they were buried for 30 years in soil brought from Jerusalem and then were exhumed to make room for the recently deceased. 

Then their bones were used to add to the "artwork"!

These displays fill six small rooms, each with a name such as, The Crypt of the Tibia and Fibula, The Crypt of the Pelvises, The Crypt of the Skulls, etc.  

Some skeletons are intact and standing or lying down on beds of bones. They are clothed in the typical brown robes of a Franciscan friar or a Capuchino. 

This clock face made of bones seems to be a silent reminder of the swift passage of life on Earth and our own mortality. A very fascinating experience!