ABSTRACT
Ossuaries—chapels and memorials made from bones—are similar to both monuments and relics. They preserve the actual bones of those deceased, but usually en masse rather than by individual (as, for example, when chapels are built from the disarticulated skeletons of people who died in plagues). They remind the living that everyone will die, and as such they can evoke the sublime. Although in some respects grisly, their delicate designs can also be beautiful. This essay reflects upon the phenomenon of ossuaries, their relationship to other sorts of memorial structures, and the ethical and aesthetic issues they raise.
