Tales from the Crypt

The pictures kind of say it all don't they?

But just so you know what you're looking at...

In Central Lima, Peru, there is a Franciscan Monastery - La Iglesia de San Francisco, which I paid a visit to yesterday.

Built between 1546 and 1672 it is purported to have been one of the most elaborate and ornate in the world during its heyday. It is still quite impressive:




















However, in addition to its religious functions, the catacombs also served as the first commoner's cemetery of Lima, up until 1810. Thus, when you take a few steps down beneath the ornate wood, tile and gold walls and floors of the monestary, you enter another realm.

Dimly lit, claustrophobic brick passageways and rooms with a series of pits and wells lining them on either side. Each of these pits and/or wells are up to 15m deep - and most are still filled to the brim with skulls, femurs, and other assorted bone fragments, one body piled on top of another almost 45 feet deep.

Apparently, at some point, the caretakers decided to arrange some of the remains in geometric patters - as seen in the pictures above. The guides, as best as I could understand, weren't sure when this practice began. I put my money on a monk who either a) knew a good tourist photo op when he saw one, or b) had some OCD issues and a lot of time on his hands.

Needless to say, I did not necessarily rest easy last night - funny how being underground, surrounded by a few tons of skeletal remains will do that to you.

Ciao for now...

Matt