Discover some myths and facts about oral health
Timur, also known as Tamerlane, lies in Gur-e-Amir, a grand mausoleum in Samarkand. The corpse of the Turco-Mongol conqueror, however, was originally destined to rest at Dorus Siyadat, in Shahrisabz. On the lid of the stone sarcophagus are biographical inscriptions about Timur from which it is inferred that this simple crypt was at some point intended for him.
St. Procopius Basilica in Trebic is built on the site of the original Virgin Mary's Chapel of the Benedictine monastery in 1240–1280 CE. The best preserved part of the church is the crypt—the burial place of monks and the founders of the monastery, and where the chapel's floor would have been located.
A cave crypt dedicated to St. Michael of Archangel stands in the grounds of the Masseria Jesce, an ancient fortified farm built along the Roman road known as the Appian way in Altamura. The crypt's interior is decorated with frescoes that are Byzantine in origin.
Just outside the remote Russian village of Dargavs lies a medieval necropolis fittingly called the "City of the Dead." This mysterious destination is known for a cemetery that contains almost 100 medieval stone crypts.
The 15th-century Church of San Zaccaria in Venice retains a crypt where the remains of various doges (senior elected officials) lie. Floodwater often carpets the floor of the crypt that in 1105 CE was said to have sheltered some of the nuns fleeing a huge fire that completely destroyed the adjoining monastery.
The crypt of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome is said to contain the remnants of the rebuilt 4th-century Ara Maxima—the Great Altar of Unconquered Hercules. The original stood in the Forum Boarium but was destroyed in 64 CE during the Great Fire of Rome.
St. Michael's Church is one of the most famous churches in Hamburg. Two previous church buildings stood on the present site, which is landmarked by a beautiful Baroque spire. In the church crypt, there are 2,425 people interred. During renovations in 2004, scientists uncovered well-preserved garments and textile upholstery, plus a number of coffin carts.
One of the spookiest of all of Europe's church crypts, the Capuchin Crypt in Brno is a funeral room set in the basement of the city's Capuchin monastery. The bodies buried here are now mummified and today present a somewhat dark and macabre tourist attraction.
Speyer Cathedral in Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate is celebrated for its monumental crypt. Consecrated in 1041 CE, it is the largest Romanesque columned hall crypt in Europe and contains three chapels. One of the chapels, Saint Afra, is named after an early Christian martyr. Condemned to death by fire, she was martyred in 304 CE during the Diocletian persecution.
Situated deep inside the pyramid of Djoser is a crypt or burial chamber. Excavation revealed no body—the tomb had been extensively robbed. But archaeologists found evidence of limestone blocks with five pointed stars in low relief that were likely set on the ceiling–suggesting King Djoser sought to associate himself with the eternal North Star, thus guaranteeing his rebirth and eternity.
The crypt of the 12th-century Santa Maria Nuova church in Ferrara preserves the tombs of the Aldighieri, relatives of Dante Alighieri, the author of 'Divine Comedy'—one of the greatest works in the history of world literature. The tomb was only discovered towards the end of the 19th century.
At Myra near the town of Lycia are ancient tombs and crypts carved into the rocks that once served as necropolises: the river necropolis and the ocean necropolis. As late as 1840, the tombs were still colorfully painted red, yellow, and blue. Myra dates back to the Iron Age and was subsequently occupied by the Greeks, Romans, and Ottomans.
The crypt is the oldest part of Lund Cathedral. Built in Romanesque style and completed in 1145 CE, it contains the oldest grave in the cathedral, that of Hermann of Schleswig. His tomb depicts him in the full dress of a bishop, with alb, dalmatic, and chasuble.
Underneath Thessaloniki's Church of St. Demetrios is where you'll find the crypt of Hagios Demetrios, the city's patron saint. The crypt stands on the foundations of a Roman bathhouse complex, and Demetrios was imprisoned in a jail set adjacent to the baths before being martyred in 303 CE.
The crypt at Brunswick Cathedral in the city of Braunschweig is filled with numerous granite stone coffins containing the remains, among others, of Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, Matilda of Saxony, Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and Caroline of Brunswick, Queen of the United Kingdom and Hanover and wife of King George IV.
The Crypt of the Redeemer, also known as the Crypt of the Madonna della Grotta, is an underground cave church located in the city of Taranto, in Puglia. Originally an ancient Roman chamber tomb, its walls are decorated with 12th-century frescoes. The crypt is associated with the legend of St. Peter, who sought to quench his thirst at a well located within the church. As he made the sign of the cross to dedicate the site to John the Baptist, a bronze statue of Zeus shattered.
The memorial in the crypt of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral in Prague commemorates Czechoslovak resistance operatives Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš and others who made a last stand in the church during a siege by German troops tipped off to their whereabouts after the assassination of top Nazi Reinhard Heydrich in the city in 1942.
The archaeological site located in Alexandria known as the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa is a necropolis consisting of a series of Alexandrian tombs. The archaeological splendor of the principal tomb chamber mirrors that of the entire crypt complex. Amazingly, Kom El Shoqafa disappeared from view in the 4th century before being rediscovered in 1900 when a mule accidentally stumbled down a well shaft.
Below the 12th-century Gurk Cathedral in the Austrian state of Carinthia is a vaulted crypt numbering an impressive 100 columns. It's the oldest part of the cathedral, itself one of the most important Romanesque buildings in the country.
The St. Florian Monastery in the town of Sankt Florian is dedicated to Saint Florian, whose 4th-century grave lies beneath the building in a stone sarcophagus secured by iron belts.
Naples can boast several tomb and crypt complexes, one of which, Fontanels cemetery, served as a charnel house, or ossuary, where countless human skeletal remains are still held. Fontanels is located in a cave in the tuff hillside in the Materdei section of the city and is associated with all sorts of grisly spectacles, not least the internment in 1656 of thousands of anonymous corpses, victims of the great plague of that year.
One of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England, Canterbury Cathedral dazzles in its ecclesiastical grandeur. Its crypt, completed in 1100 CE, in fact forms a large and complex church. Its extreme east end is famous as the original burial place of Thomas Becket.
El Escorial near Madrid is the largest Renaissance building in the world. A Spanish royal site of exceptional note, El Escorial functions as a monastery, basilica, royal palace, pantheon, library, museum, school, and hospital. The monastery's beautiful crypt, the royal burial vaults, preserves 26 marble sepulchres containing the remains of the kings and queens of the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties.
Sources: (National Park Service) (Euronews) (Britannica)
See also: The most astounding inventions from the Renaissance
Located at Aubeterre-sur-Dronne is the subterranean monolithic church of Saint-Jean, hand-hewn out of a rock hillside in the 12th century. Its original purpose was to house religious artifacts. It was later used by pilgrims en route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Off of the main chamber is a necropolis containing over 80 sarcophagi. Each individual tomb has its head facing the direction of Jerusalem.
The site of one of the First World War's most horrific scenes, the Trench of Bayonets is found at Fleury-devant-Douaumont. It is part of the Verdun Memorial, itself commemorating the over 300,000 that died during the nine-month Battle of Verdun in 1916. After the war, excavations led to the discovery of 21 bodies of French soldiers, their hands still clutching their weapons with bayonets fixed. Seven bodies, which remain unidentified, were found standing upright, apparently killed by enemy shells and entombed under earth. Their remains were reburied in a trench, a crypt of sorts, for unknown soldiers.
The Imperial Crypt, the burial chamber beneath the Capuchin church and monastery in Vienna, contains the bones of 145 Habsburg royalty, including 12 emperors and 18 empresses. Some of the sarcophagi are bizarrely decorated with a death's head—a skull topped with a crown or wreath. Even more macabre are the urns containing hearts or intestines of long-dead nobility.
Rosslyn Chapel is familiar to many as a location featured in Dan Brown's bestselling novel 'The Da Vinci Code' (2003) and its 2006 film adaptation. The crypt, once accessible, has long been sealed. Legend suggests that it serves as a gateway to a more extensive chamber containing (variously) the mummified head of Jesus Christ, the Holy Grail, and the treasure of the Templars.
St. Michan's Church in Dublin features a burial vault in which four opened coffins contain the mummified remains of a nun, a crusader, and the Sheares brothers—Henry and John—who took part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
The Zoroastrian towers of silence located on the outskirts of Yazd in central Iran once served as part of the Zoroastrian tradition of sky burial. The towers allowed people to purify their dead by exposing the corpses to the elements in the desert.
Dating back to 1793, Old North Church in Boston houses in its basement a crypt containing approximately 1,100 burials. In 2017, after being closed for more than a century, one tomb was opened for a quick structural inspection. The crypt is now open for public tours.
Numerous churches, cathedrals, and monasteries across Europe and beyond are renowned for their ecclesiastical splendor and architectural grandeur. Hidden underneath most of these religious landmarks are subterranean chambers known as crypts, vaults that contain coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. While some of these underground tombs are resplendent in their beauty, others exude a positively creepy and unworldly atmosphere—sinister-looking places that house the skeletal remains of many, and where dark deeds took place.
Spooked? Click through and venture into the realm of the macabre.
Eerie crypts and their spooky secrets
Are you brave enough to venture into these unsettling places?
TRAVEL Death
Numerous churches, cathedrals, and monasteries across Europe and beyond are renowned for their ecclesiastical splendor and architectural grandeur. Hidden underneath most of these religious landmarks are subterranean chambers known as crypts, vaults that contain coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. While some of these underground tombs are resplendent in their beauty, others exude a positively creepy and unworldly atmosphere—sinister-looking places that house the skeletal remains of many, and where dark deeds took place.
Spooked? Click through and venture into the realm of the macabre.