- Rome
The Capuchin Crypt is a unique Baroque masterpiece, with few other places like it to be found in the city.
Inside, a long corridor with five chapels awaits you, adorned with the bones of nearly 4,000 friars from the 16th to 19th centuries. These bones form rosettes, pilasters, stars, and even chandeliers and crosses.
As you walk, you'll see thousands of bones—shinbones, femurs, and skulls—used to create niches and architectural features where skeletons dressed in friars' habits rest.
Each chapel is named after the types of bones used in its decoration and contains holy earth believed to be from Palestine or Jerusalem.