Is it just me or does this place give you the shivers? Welcome to the Oratorio di San Bernardino alle Ossa. This isn’t your typical Milanese church. The Oratorio holds a secret. It is a side chapel decorated with human skulls and bones.
Let’s step back in time to understand how this macabre masterpiece came to be. In 1210, the adjacent cemetery ran out of space. A room was built to store the overflowing bones. Think of it a sort of early bone recycling program.
About 50 years later in 1269, a church was attached to the ossuary. For centuries, the church and its ossuary gained significance. The church faced a major setback in 1712. A fire ravaged the building.
Carlo Giuseppe Merlo rebuilt the church. He expanded the structure in Baroque style. In 1776, the facade was completed giving the Oratorio its current look. San Bernardino alle Ossa became a place of reflection on death. The ossuary became a destination for spiritual contemplation.
Now, let’s talk about the ossuary itself. After passing through a narrow corridor, we enter the room. The ceiling is frescoed with a “Triumph of Souls in a Flight of Angels” by Sebastiano Ricci in 1695. The vault’s pendentives show the Virgin Mary and other saints.
Look around you. The walls are covered in skulls and bones. These remains come from the old ossuary and closed cemeteries. The bones are arranged in niches, on cornices, and adorning pillars. The macabre theme blends with Rococo style.
Above the altar, stands a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows. She is kneeling by the dead Christ. Gerolamo Cattaneo created this in the 17th century.
Legend says the bones belong to Christian martyrs killed by Arian heretics. However, they are from hospital patients, executed prisoners, and aristocratic families.
King John V of Portugal was so impressed in 1738. He replicated the chapel in Évora near Lisbon. It is now known as the Capela dos Ossos.
Some say that on All Souls Day, a little girl comes back to life. Her remains are in the ossuary’s altar. She coerces the skeletons to dance. Whether that’s true or not, the Oratorio di San Bernardino alle Ossa is a unique landmark. It serves as a reminder of life’s fragility and the beauty that can be found even in death.