The Catacombs of Saint Francis in Porto

En Porto is the Iglesia de San Francisco which began to be built in 1245 by the Franciscan friars in the Gothic style, being rebuilt in 1383 and completed in 1410.

And nobody would imagine that in the subsoil there are the Catacombs where the brothers of the order were buried from 1749 to 1866. They are unique in Portugal and in them, in addition to the graves, there is an ossuary with thousands of human bones that can be observed from a hole on the floor.

An estimated 30.000 human skulls have been buried in the cellars here. He might be exaggerating, but this building was once a damp graveyard for both the rich and the poor.

A section of what looks like an antique store. There are also paintings, including one of Saint Francis of Assisi worshiping Christ on the Cross. Curios are some of the first banknotes printed in Portugal and an ambulance from the 18th century that was actually a sedan chair.

The Sala de Sessões, built in rich Baroque style, is now a meeting room with a Louis XIV table and João V chairs.


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