Because of its aesthetic uniqueness, the Capela dos Ossos de Campo Maior is one of the most important and original examples of Christian funerary art in Portugal. Little is known of the construction of the Bones Chapel itself, which was probably promoted around 1766 by the Confraria das Almas de Campo Maior.
This chapel is closely linked to an unmissable historical episode: the explosion of the castle warehouse by a lightning strike, after which half of the village was destroyed, counting 316 dead and about 2 thousand wounded according to local records.
Popular legend has it that the chapel was decorated with the bones of those who died in the explosion. Through the restoration process and the anthropological and archaeological survey, it has been established that the bones inside the chapel show no signs of violent impact, meaning that this legend will have no lasting basis.
The chapel's bones are believed to have come from the graveyard of the Mother Church, which was completely redesigned when the village was rebuilt after the explosion.
In fact, only many scattered bones were identified during the archaeological excavation of the cemetery to promote accessibility to the Mother Church. The absence of long bones and skulls seems to indicate that this area of the burial chamber surrounding the church was encased.
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