Navigating one of Rome’s Fascinating and Humbling Catacombs and an Ornate Crypt 💀

Crypt of the Pelvises

Photo credit: Dnalor 01,  Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA 3.0)

As we mentioned, Rome has a fascinating underground!  Part of that underground is Rome’s more than fifty catacombs with several kilometers of subterranean passageways and labyrinths, along which rows of thousands rectangular niches were dug out to hold bodies.

Though most famous for Christian burials, either in separate catacombs or mixed together, Jews and also adherents of a variety of pagan Roman religions were buried in catacombs, beginning in the 2nd century AD. The Christians did not agree with the pagan custom of burning the bodies of their dead, and because of a lack of space and the high price of land, they decided to create these vast underground cemeteries. Roman law at the time prohibited the burial of the deceased in the interior of the city, therefore all of the catacombs were located outside of the walls. These separated and hidden places below ground created the perfect refuge in which the Christians could bury their own, freely using Christian symbols.

The corpses were commonly wrapped in a sheet and placed in the niches, which were then covered with gravestones made of marble or, more commonly, baked clay. Subsequently, the name of the deceased was carved on the cover accompanied by a Christian symbol.  The catacombs became the great equalizer in death. Here, the bodies of hundreds of thousands of Christians, from honored saints and martyrs to common folk, were interred on multi-tiered shelves; a humble yet provoking reminder of the community's unity in faith and fate.

Currently only five of the catacombs are open to the public.  We visited one of the more well-known ones, The Catacombs of St. Sebastiano.  Also part of our tour was a visit to the Capuchin crypt.  Because the catacombs and crypt are places of deep historical and religious significance, they can only be visited with a guide.  Photographs are also prohibited of the tombs, so we have supplemented our pictures with some pictures from the internet so you can get an idea of what there is to be seen.

Fontana del Tritone in Piazza Barberini

Our tour started at the Fontana del Tritone (The Fountain of the Tritons) in front of the hotel we stayed at during the first part of our visit.  This fountain was sculpted by Bernini in 1642-1643 for Pope Urban VIII Barberini.  Our guide pointed out the papal tiara and below it the three bees which were a symbol of the Barberini family and can be seen all around the piazza.  In fact, the Piazza Barberini has it’s own fascinating history worth looking into!

Capuchin crypts

Exterior of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini

One of the most unique and impressive heritage sites in Rome is the Museum and Crypt of the Capuchin Friars.  The crypt is situated beneath the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini (‘Our Lady of the Conception of the Capuchins’), and is also sometimes called the “Bone Church of Rome”.  The Capuchin crypt is best known for its amazing ossuary, a collection of thousands of human bones that have been used in the elaborate decoration on the walls and ceilings.

This crypt was built between 1626 and 1631 by order of Pope Urban VIII, since his brother, Antonio Barberini, was a Capuchin brother. The soil in the crypt came all the way from Jerusalem, also on order of the Pope. It was in 1631 that the Capuchin friars first arrived at the church, moving from their old monastery.  With them they brought the remains of their deceased friars – this amounted to 300 cartloads!  It was Friar Michael of Bergamo that had their bones placed along the walls of the crypt and arranged to look the like works of art and symbols which are seen today.  The crypt now houses the remains of more than 3,600 brothers buried between 1500 and 1870.

Crypt of Skulls

Over the subsequent centuries, friars died and were buried in the holy soil of the crypt. The bodies that had been buried the longest were exhumed in order to make way for the newly deceased. On average, the bodies spend around 30 years decomposing first before being exhumed and used in the ossuary.

We started our visit with the Museum of the Crypt of the Capuchins. Here we learned more about the history of the Capuchins and the crypts. This museum also includes a work by Caravaggio on which Saint Francis is painted.

St Francis in Meditation by Caravaggio, c. 1604/06 or 1607/10

Next we visited the crypt itself.  This dimly lit crypt consists of five chapels connected by a corridor, each of which is decorated with thousands of bones, skulls (sometimes even complete skeletons), and one boneless chapel with an altar.  The five rooms have self-explanatory names such as the Crypt of Skulls, the Crypt of Pelvises, and the Crypt of the Leg Bones and Thigh Bones.  These rooms feature staggering artistic displays, with arches and ceiling vaults covered in bones, walls studded in a mosaic of skulls, and even chandeliers made with bones.  However, not everything on display is bare bone.  In one room, two severed, mummified arms cross one another to make the form of the Capuchin’s coat of arms. Several rooms also contain robed and hooded figures with their darkened, desiccated skin still clinging to their skulls.

Capuchin Coat of Arms

Photo credit: Dnalor_01,  Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA 3.0)

The tour ended in the last chapel where there is a plaque with the message ‘Quello che voi siete noi eravamo, quello che noi siamo voi sarete’, translated” “Exactly what you are now, we once were, what we are now will become you”.   The intent of the Capuchin crypt is not to be grotesque (although for some visitors it probably is), but rather to serve as a somber reminder of our short time on this Earth and the nearness of our own mortality.

Mark Twain candidly wrote about his experience visiting the Capuchin crypt in the summer of 1867, after talking with one of the friars there:

"The reflection that [the Capuchin friar] must someday be taken apart like an engine or a clock...and worked up into arches and pyramids and hideous frescoes, did not distress this monk in the least. I thought he even looked as if he were thinking, with complacent vanity, that his own skull would look well on top of the heap and his own ribs add a charm to the frescoes which possibly they lacked at present."

Catacombs of San Sebastiano

Located on Via Appia Antica, these 12 kilometer long-catacombs owe their name to San Sebastiano, a soldier who became a martyr for converting to Christianity and are Rome’s oldest known catacombs.  These catacombs were initially a site of significant pilgrimage and were named after the saints Peter and Paul, whose relics had been stored here and then transferred elsewhere.  Even when other catacombs were abandoned during the Middle Ages, pilgrims kept on traveling here to honor the memory of St. Sebastian.  He is widely considered the third saint patron of the city of Rome, after Peter and Paul.

One of the many passageways throughout the catacombs with niches built in the walls

Walking through the narrow catacombs of St. Sebastiano felt a little claustrophobic, but also peaceful.  It was fascinating to travel through the dark passageways where you can see, in addition to the niches, some inscriptions with the names of the people that once occupied them, along with an occasional mark such as a fragment of a lamp, a coin, or a child’s toy.  Due to the high infant mortality rate at that time, you can see a large quantity of spaces prepared for these children, alongside some larger graves in which the whole family was buried.

One of the most interesting spaces we saw were some of the earliest Roman tombs clustered together in a round chamber known as the “piazzola” (initially pagan, these tombs were later reused by the Christians).  These mausolea have architectural elements on their facades which, nestled together, make them look like a small ancient city.

The piazzola, a mausoleum inside the catacombs

The tour also led us into a feasting chamber called the “triclia" where funerary feasts were celebrated in family vaults on the day of burial and on anniversaries.   Here, the plastered walls are covered with over 600 pieces of graffiti left by visitors across the centuries.  Countless pilgrims would come here to partake of memorial meals in honor of saints Peter and Paul and to scratch prayers to them on the walls.

The end of the tour led us up the stairs from the catacombs to The Basilica of San Sebastiano Outside the Walls.  This basilica owes its name to the fact that it was located outside the city’s walls built by the Emperor Aurelian.

Interior of the Basilica of San Sebastiano Outside the Walls

Photo credit: Livioandronico2013 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The site was already well known among the Christian community because of the presence of the catacombs. The first church on this site was built during the Christian persecutions, in the III century AD.   Because of the frequent sacks and pillaging of the Barbarian populations, the church had an important task: the safekeeping of the relics of the apostles and saints Peter and Paul.  The relics of the apostles were kept hidden for almost three centuries after their martyrdom in a semi-circular room decorated with marbles and stucco, which lies behind the central apse called “the Platonia”.

The interior of the basilica features a single nave with a carved wooden ceiling, ending with a grand arch.  On the right hand side there is the chapel of the relics, which preserves a stone that is believed to bear the footprints of Jesus and a dart that pierced Saint Sebastian, together with a fragment of the column to which he was tied to during martyrdom.

Salvador Mundi by Gian Bernini, c. 1679. 

Photo credit: Tyler Bell, Flickr (CC BY 2.0 DEED)

One of the most interesting artworks you can see in the basilica is the famous Salvador Mundi, a marble bust depicting Jesus the Savior.  It’s the last masterpiece created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The bust was recently recovered in 2001 in the monastery adjacent to the church.

Exterior of the Basilica of San Sebastiano Outside the Walls

On your next visit to Rome, we encourage you to visit at least one of the catacombs in the city.  If it’s a spooky vibe you’re interested in, there are many tours that take place at night!  However, spooky or not, these sacred spaces offer a humbling experience that prompts reflection on the passage of time, the inevitability of death, and the enduring power of faith.