Rome: Il Convento dei Cappuccini

While it was tempting to visit another section of Museo di Roma, it was already past 3:30p. Our time in the city was dwindling. Instead, we decided to check out the museum and ossuary at the Il Convento dei Cappuccini … near Piazza Barberini … just 5 minutes away.

On arrival, we first went into the church, the cornerstone of which was laid in 1626 … soon after construction of the monastery began. Pope Urban VIII celebrated the first mass at the church four years later.

After a quick peek inside the church, we went to the office next door to purchase our admission to the museum and crypt. Our tickets included an audio guide and the caution that no photos were allowed in either the museum or the crypt. While the museum did hold some interesting items, it was the ossuary crypt that we really wanted to see, so we didn’t dally long at the exhibits.

In 1631, the capuchin monks left the monastery of Saint Bonaventure, located near the Trevi Fountain, to take up residence at this monastery. The remains of the deceased monks were transported and “arranged” here soon after. The bones were organized in a certain order along the walls, and monks and poor Romans began to be buried in the crypt, the latter in the sepulcher under the floor of the chapel where mass is celebrated.

We walked along a 90-foot long corridor, flanked by six rooms … five of which are filled with skeletal remains. The exception is the chapel where mass is celebrated. Iron bars keep visitors from entering the rooms while at the same time allowing clear views of the “morbidly fascinating art.”

The audio guide explained that the “art on display” was created from the remains of around 3,700 dead persons, mainly Capuchin monks. The “ingenious artist” who created it all remains unknown as no documentation on the origins of the work has survived. All that is known is that the first mention of “niches, vaults, ceiling ornaments with regular and pleasing designs, lamps, crosses, etc” came from Marquis de Sade who visited the crypt in 1775.

The corridor guided us into a gift shop … which felt weird considering where we’d just been. Since I had no photos of the crypt, however, I looked at the postcards available and purchased a couple. I really do wish I could have taken a couple of photos of my own as the postcards left a lot to be desired. But it is what it is.Read more