So, I've got this amazing gadget on my desktop (take that, Mac) that shows me a different sacred site every day. I've been learning quite a lot about many different religions and what they consider to be holy. (One of those is a hot springs. I like the way they think.) Anyway, since I'm a fan of the macabre, I thought I would share with you some of the more interesting places they've shown me, along with some other cool stuff I've come up with over the years.
The first one is the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo. In this underground city lie the bodies of hundreds of men, women and children dating from the 1600s to the mid-1900s. At first, it was used only for dead friars. Later, though, it became a symbol of status to be entombed in the catacombs. Meaning, if you had enough money, they would allow you to be buried there. However, once the donations stopped, you'd be put on a shelf to... well, rot. People would ask to be interred in their everyday garb or in their Sunday best, forever on display in this macabre tourist attraction. The image shown here is of a two-year-old who died in the 1920s of pneumonia. She has been nicknamed "Sleeping Beauty."
The next one is called the Roskilde Domkirke (don't ask me how to pronounce it, it's Danish). It houses the coffins of 21 kings and 18 queens of Denmark, including King Christian IV (the tomb of whom is shown here) and Queen Margarethe. It was built in 980, but founded in 1170. It has been used as a royal mausoleum since the 15th century.
The next one was built by someone with a lot of time on their hands. And their heads. And their femurs. And, you know, thousands of other bones. It's called the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic, and it's made of human bones. It was originally a place to bury those who had died of the black death, started by Abbot Henry in 1278. By 1318, over 30,000 bodies had been interred there. This made it necessary to build an ossuary. The ossuary itself dates from 1511 when a half-blind monk was given the task to gather the bones from the abolished graves and put them in the crypt to make place for new "customers." It is still a tourist attraction, but no one has been buried there in hundreds of years.
Finally, the Isla de las Munecas, or Island of Dolls. This creepy place was built by Julian Santana to honor the spirit of a young girl who drowned in the river, and who is said to haunt the island. He built her an altar, and began hanging dolls from the trees to appease the spirit. In fact, he even traded the fresh produce he would grow for old, discarded dolls.
The first one is the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo. In this underground city lie the bodies of hundreds of men, women and children dating from the 1600s to the mid-1900s. At first, it was used only for dead friars. Later, though, it became a symbol of status to be entombed in the catacombs. Meaning, if you had enough money, they would allow you to be buried there. However, once the donations stopped, you'd be put on a shelf to... well, rot. People would ask to be interred in their everyday garb or in their Sunday best, forever on display in this macabre tourist attraction. The image shown here is of a two-year-old who died in the 1920s of pneumonia. She has been nicknamed "Sleeping Beauty."
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