The Church of Purgatory

Have you ever been to a church that’s specifically for people to pray for the souls trapped in limbo between heaven and hell? Well I would’ve gone in but the living people at the entrance were charging money to enter (ticket) and as I didn’t know anybody personally whose soul might be trapped and needed my prayers, so I just took some pictures from outside and left!

Well, actually I did step inside, like I do in every church I see open, because I love to see the style and architecture, but the main area was well hidden except for a glimpse of walls of teal/some shade of green, which looked interesting. But due to limited time, I had to leave it unexplored.

But I looked up about it later. It was built sometime in the 18th century. As you can see, the door decoration is of skulls – upper row for nobles and clergymen and lower row of commoners. Inequality even in death…sigh. There are some more skull sculptures inside.

I have seen other churches with skull motifs but I didn’t know there were particular ones for praying for the souls in purgatory, until I read up about this one. For those of you who are wondering where is it located – it stands tall and pretty in Matera, Italy.

For Dan’s Thursday Doors.

In this blog, I focus on sharing some of the photographs that I capture, often during my travels but also in the everyday life. If you’d like to read about my travels, you can find the stories on this blog – Reflections on the River.