San Bernardino alle Ossa

The Ossuary Church of San Bernardino is located on the southeast side of the famous Milan Cathedral. The interior and walls of the ossuary are decorated with human bones. The history of the Ossuary Church of St. Bernardino can be traced back to 1210. At that time, a hospital and a cemetery were built near the church. Since there was no space left in the cemetery, a room was built in the church to store the bones of the deceased. In the 17th century, the people of Milan built this baroque church in memory of innocent children who died in the plague in the early seventeenth century, and redecorated the walls and vaults of the ossuary with skeleton diagrams. The church was destroyed in a fire in 1712, and was later rebuilt and enlarged to the size of the ossuary.