Skull Churches

[[1]] A skull church in Portugal. Photo taken by Philip Gardiner

Skull Churches can be found all around the world dating back hundreds, even thousands of years. These macabre yet fascinating structures are monuments of death, often times being erected during the height of plagues or mass outbreaks of poverty and disease. Icons such as Christian crosses, and other elaborate decorations usually make up the scenery for a "church of the skull". Oftentimes the buildings are adorned on the exterior with markings of the human skeleton, skulls, or other etchings that many might consider somewhat sinister. The various churches, most of them established between 1300-1800AD, claim this as a grand honoring of death, with symbolic altars dedicated to deceased loved ones. The craftsmanship of these cathedrals are quite elaborate, with painstaking hours needed to build the skillfully planned items. Nearly every bone in the body was used at some point or another, including hip bones, ribs, and spines, to create surreal items of furniture, chandeliers, altars and crosses. Despite their macabre appeal, or perhaps because of it, many of these monuments have become heavily visited tourist attractions.