Iglesia de San Francisco, Lima, Peru

My friend Kristina has posted a set of photos on flickr from her recent trip to Peru. In addition to photos of the Nasca line drawings, guano-covered sea coasts, and lounging seals, she has some images up of the Church and Convent of Saint Francis in Lima. I can hear your yawns already - well, the yawns from those of you who aren't interested in Baroque-Moorish-Spanish architecture. Who cares, right? Well, in addition to being a beautiful example of early Spanish Colonial architecture (founded in 1535 by Pizzaro, the current structure is one of the few buildings that survived Lima's 1746 earthquake), it has a pretty amazing ossuary. Verbatim from a review on Virtual Tourist:

'The catacombs served as a cementary until 1808, it is estimated that more than 80.000 bodies were put to rest there. The bone reservoirs are 10 m deep, and is build to resist seismic waves. Also note the crypt with the name Venerables where the rests of Fray (brother) Juan Gómez are placed (died 1631). Fray Juan Gómez was immortilized by the famous peruvian author Ricardo Palma in the tradicional legend "El Alacrán [Scorpion] de Fray Gómez.'