Archive for the ‘church’ tag
Milan, S. Bernardino alle Ossa. Bone Church
Milan, Italy
May 2008
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I had forgotten about San Bernardino, a church I visited when I was about 6 years old.
In May 2008 I went back a few days to the city where I grew up.
I wanted to go back to the crypt with skulls and bones on the walls.
I walked to the square where S. Bernardino is located, adjacent to the larger church of S. Stefano.
The doors were locked for the lunch break and I had to go back a few hours later.
Inside the church is somehow nondescript baroque.
The guardian, an optuagenarian man of gentle manners showed me the way to the “Ossario” [bone repository], a small dark chapel at the end of a short dark corridor.
There in the small room with the high ceiling there were thousands of stacked skulls on display on the walls.
He explained it was regular people who wanted their remains to be in a more spiritual place.
The skulls belonged to rich and noble, criminals and honest people. Even people that had been executed for crimes were allowed to find a spot here.
The old man turned on a couple of halogen lights so I could take better photos. I wish I had a wider angle lens because it was hard to include everything in the frame being the room so narrow and tall.
The dead Jesus and sorrowful Mary reflected the Spanish style, as Milan at the time was ruled by Spain.
Some people came in for a prayer.
I went back a couple of times during the short stay. I felt fascination with the place. Some sort of realistic yet peaceful representation of death and life.
