Portugal

Lisbon

The Capela Dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones)

Known as the Chapel of bones is in a town known as Evora which is just outside of Lisbon, it is the most visited site when travelling to Evora, it is part of the Royal church of St Franciscan which was developed by the Franciscan monks.

The bone chapel story is like many other ossuary or bone places, in the 16^th century there was number of cemeteries that was taking up land, which needed to be used for development, the monks made the choice to build the chapel and move the bones from the excavated cemeteries to the bones chapel.

To show the wealth of Evora in 1600s the monks allowed the display to be open, this was also shown from the message above the door that translates to “we bones are here waiting for you”. It is estimated that 5000 corpses are within the bone chapel. At the front of the chapel there is a white coffin which has three of the founder monks of the church.

Our tour

We booked our tour on Get Your Guide app, which was the first time we used this app, it is very easy to use, and tours are reasonably priced. we were picked up from our hotel in a mini busy at 9:30, the tour guide was very welcoming, we were on a tour with an American group, we were explained our day while we travelled to our first stop being told we will be seeing a stone circle first, then on to a tomb before exploring Evora and finishing with The Bone Chapel.

We made our way across a long bridge to make our way out of Lisbon and through the country, which was filled with cork trees, we made our way through a small town on to a very bumpy road, which felt like a safari. We stopped in a carpark area along with a couple of other tourists, we then had short walk to see the rocks, our tour guide explained the history of the stones and telling us they were older than Stonehenge.

We then made our way to a tomb which was thought to be for high profile people, it was a rock formation like a mountain with an entrance which was small enough to crawl through, we were able to get a view of the inside from climbing a hill around the back of the rock formation, inside the tomb was an empty circular area, we was explained that bodies would have been laid to rest with in this area, however graverobbers has taken everything. We then made our way to Evora town, when arriving the guide explained the old wall which surrounded the town before parking within the centre market area, where we were given a 1-hour lunch. Me and my partner went to a small café for something to eat not fair from the market square.

We met back in the market centre with our guide and group, we walk around the town of Evora stopping at the Temple of Diana, then made our way to the main church of Evora and was explained the history before being allowed access to the roof which gives splendid views of Evora and is definitely worth the clime up the spiral staircase, our tour guide then took us to the church of the Franciscan monks which joins on to the chapel of bones, the church does appear very new as it is gleaming white. We were able to look in the church however did not spend much time here as was interested in see the Chape of Bones.

The entrance to the Chapel of Bones is like a roman architecture door frame, it gives the impression that we were about to enter something holly or important. When you walk into the room you are firstly take back that all four walls appear to be made out the bones, however the bricks would be placed behind the bones leaving about 2-foot gap indent in the walls allow the bones to be placed forming the bone walls, you able to tell this by the windows in the chapel are further back than the bones.

You are not able to get close the walls because there is glass barrier walkway that runs down the middle of the room. You can still see the detail throughout the bone chapel, the pillars have also been all inlaid with bones. At the front of the room there is like an alter which gives the room more of a religious feeling. I would take note off looking above the door when in the room as it does have a heart like shape that has been made out what looks like pelvis bones and at the front of the room there is a human skeleton that has been placed with in a glass coffin which used to be hanged on the wall.

It is a very intriguing place to visit, however the other tour sites we stopped at did not interest us that much, we more book the tour as The Bone Chapel was part of the tour. From reading about The Chapel of Bones before visiting and understanding the idea was taking from the bone chape in Milan, I expected it to be smaller however it is very large and from how the bones was stacked with in the walls it did remind me of how the bones was stacked with in the catacombs of Paris, I think this is because of how each bone was closely compacted next to each other.

Carmo Convent Ruins

On November 1^st, 1755, Lisbon was hit by a devastating 9 earthquakes, most of the city was destroyed from the earthquake along with fires which lasted 5 days, as it was All Saints Day people had their homes lit with candles which fuelled the fires. The Carmo Convent Church which was affected was never rebuilt and was left as ruins as a reminder of the earthquake, it is estimated that 60,000 people lost their lives.

Our tour

We arrived at the Carmo Convent Ruins to find that it was free entry this is because they had a expedition with in the grounds on, the entrance is the church door however with a front desk built in to it, you can then take ever left or right, when you enter you are greeted with the ruins of the church, it has the main structure that stands mainly but with no roof, there is stone steps that are located behind the front desk and gives you the fall few of the church, there is not much to see from the structure, but you do wonder of how it would have looked a back in 1700s and how a natural disaster can do so much damage.

As they had the exhibition on they was a number of stalls that was located around the main flooring, we went to the back of the church where we found an archaeology museum area which would have been the four Covent chambers, when entering this area there is one room located to the left which holds artifacts of pottery and coins, of to the right to the entrance you firstly walk into a tombed room, which holds a number of Royal tombs however these are empty and used to show the architecture, I did find these interesting for the detail which was put into each one, the next room held more artifacts however the most interesting thing in this room was two mummified children in glass cabinets, it is a sight to see how well preserved they are, you can still see skin on them along with hair. The last room was more of a conference room.

After leaving this area we did explore more of the church ruins but behind the back of the tents that was part of the exhibition, when then found artifacts that was part of the church that possible fell off with in earthquake.

I did find this very interesting to see how a natural disaster can affect such a big building, and still survive. It did remind us of the cathedral in Coventry that was affected by the Blitz however I kept in mind that the Carmo Convent church was affected from a natural disaster. It is also very close to the lift town which you can get some perfect views of Lisbon and is worth the visit.