Sex and Death

Portugal's Chapel of Bones

The Chapel of Bones in Évora, Portugal, is part of the larger Royal Church of St. Francis, and was constructed by Franciscan monks in the late 16th century.

The Chapel’s story is a familiar one. By the 16th century, there were as many as 43 cemeteries in and around Évora that were taking up valuable land.

Not wanting to condemn the souls of the people buried there, the monks decided to build the Chapel and relocate the bones.

However, rather than interring the bones behind closed doors, the monks, who were concerned about society’s values at the time, thought it best to put them on display.

They thought this would provide Évora, a town noted for its wealth in the early 1600s, with a helpful place to meditate on the transience of material things in the undeniable presence of death.

Terminator came out 35 years ago and "The Governor" posted some of his personal behind the scenes shots on Reddit!

A journalist just reminded me that today is the 35th anniversary of the release, so I asked my archivist to find some of the photos in my albums so I could share with you guys.