When we crossed over the border from Spain into the Algarve, Portugal’s sunny and picturesque southern coast, we were excited to explore another new-to-us country. Our first stop was the seaside city of Faro where we had scheduled a three-day stay before heading on to Lisbon. We were looking forward to enjoying fresh seafood and beautiful scenery, but we didn’t expect to encounter one of the strangest sights on our trip.
Our Lady of Carmel was just a few blocks from our apartment, but we might have passed it up as we were on serious church overload after spending three weeks in Spain. It wasn’t until someone mentioned the Capela dos Osso, or Chapel of Bones, that we put it on our “must-see” list.
The church’s whitewashed Baroque façade was lovely, and its richly gilded interior impressive, but the real draw was the small chapel in the interior courtyard behind the church. As we approached the chapel, we saw this inscription over the entrance: “Para aqui a considerar que a este estado has de chegar” (loosely translated as: Stop here and consider that you too will reach this state).
Upon entering the chapel, we found ourselves surrounded by bones and skulls… lots of bones and skulls. In fact, in 1816, the skeletons of over 1,200 Carmelite monks who once served the church had been exhumed from the nearby graveyard. They were used in both the construction of the ossuary and to artfully decorate just about every surface. The effect was both stunning and profound.
I’ve read various descriptions of bone chapels (there are several in Portugal, including a larger one in Evora) where words like “creepy” or “macabre” were used. I don’t agree at all. The original intent was no doubt religious—some say to encourage people to think about the life beyond this one—but my secular self took a couple of other important lessons from the display:
- Despite our different sizes, shapes, and colors on the outside, inside we are pretty much the same. We spend way too much time focused on what in reality is just a small portion of who we are.
- Life is fleeting. We only get one life before we too become a pile of bones. Make the most of it.
As we hoped, the three weeks we spent in Portugal were filled with wonderful food, scenery, and adventures (and I will share a few as my non-existent post schedule goes forward). Looking back, though, we were fortunate that our first stop was Faro, where a small chapel behind a church held a good reminder to enjoy our lives while we can.
Please visit Dan’s blog No Facilities to see other #Thursday Doors.
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