The Strange Truth About the Carmo Church

#EuropeTravel #Portugal #Faro #Cathedral of the Skulls The Unfamiliar Truth About the Carmo Church Faro's Carmo Church, my last stop before departing for Lisbon tomorrow, boasted a magnificent and elegant Baroque appearance. Gaze upon the church facade, gleaming brightly under the dazzling sunlight, I expected a peaceful religious building. However, the real experience began when I passed through a small door tucked away in a quiet corner behind this beautiful sanctuary. That door led to the Capella dos Osos, or Chapel of the Skulls. The moment I entered, I was overwhelmed by the dark, narrow space, contrasting sharply with the bright world. Every surface—walls, pillars, ceiling—was densely adorned with over a thousand human remains, skulls, and shin bones. The arrangement was eerily elaborate, and hundreds of skulls stared blankly at the unfamiliar visitor. As a Christian, I was deeply disturbed by this sight. This chapel visualizes the lesson of remembering death, and it was a place where God once lived. They said they were the remains of monks who had served. But my heart was filled with an unfamiliar feeling of cruelty and discomfort rather than piety. Faith is about respecting human dignity, yet here, bones were being used as building materials rather than a place of rest. Their remains had become a tool for delivering a "warning" to the living, for the noble purpose of saving the soul. The body is a dignified being destined to return to the earth, yet seeing them exposed and arranged like this was a shocking experience for a modern believer. I tried to understand the faith they must have felt hundreds of years ago, and the religious attitudes of that time that willingly offered their bodies as a lesson to the community. Nevertheless, the question posed by the countless skulls embedded in the walls was powerful. Can a lesson for the soul truly take precedence over the dignity of the body? This dark room of truth, hidden behind the bright Carmo Church. As soon as I left the Chapel of the Skull, I was once again greeted by the dazzling sunlight of Paro. In that place, where light and shadow, faith and cruelty, and the boundaries between life and death were sharply divided, I experienced the most complex and profound religious contemplation. My journey to Paro was more than just a beautiful landscape; it became a strange pilgrimage, a journey that questioned the essence of faith. "I came here as a Christian, but before the overwhelming display of bones, I felt a strange cruelty rather than religious peace. These bones belonged to monks who served God hundreds of years ago, but their final resting place was not a pious tomb, but a material for the teachings of the living. While it may have emphasized the spiritual lessons of death, for modern believers, it was a place that raised uncomfortable yet powerful questions about human dignity. (2025.11.20)