The six rooms
Each decorated differently — skulls, pelvises, leg bones — arranged with care rather than at random.
Livioandronico2013 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · СССР — CC BY-SA 2.5 ca · Rijksmuseum — CC0 · Rijksmuseum — CC0
Less than you expect. The lighting is soft, the route short and orderly, and the stated purpose is contemplative. Still, anyone affected by human remains should skip it, and it is not advisable for a young child.
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Six small rooms beneath the Capuchin church, their walls and ceilings decorated with the bones of some four thousand friars of the order, moved here between 1732 and 1775 when their old burial ground was cleared. The intent is not horror but contemplation: the friars arranged their brothers' bones into patterns, stars and chandeliers to remind the visitor that death is shared and certain. In the last room a plaque reads, in three languages: "What you are, we once were; what we are, you will be." Before the crypt, visitors pass through a small museum on the history and life of the Capuchin order, including a painting attributed to Caravaggio. The whole route is orderly, quiet and respectful — nothing about it is sensational. Photography is strictly forbidden inside the crypt. It is not suitable for young children or for anyone affected by images of death. It stands on Via Veneto near Piazza Barberini.
Each decorated differently — skulls, pelvises, leg bones — arranged with care rather than at random.
An introductory section on Capuchin life and history, including a painting attributed to Caravaggio.
Via Veneto 27, Rome
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