In
the small town of Wolhusen, Switzerland, a funeral home chapel sits as
it has since the 17th century. Its walls are decorated with a wraparound
mural depicting the Dance of Death, in which corpse-like death figures
come to claim the living. What makes this particular mortuary chapel
different is that, from the entryway to the murals, real human skulls
are part of the decor.
Inside, the mural is comprised of a
series of figures in the classic Dance of Death motif, showing people
from all walks of life (kings, bishops, musicians, and peasants) being
led away by dancing skeletal figures, each of which has a real human
skull set in the plaster where its head should be. The skulls are even
situated to match the angle of the skeletons' poses, with one set in the
plaster face first to show the skeleton with its back turned to the
viewer.
Take a mini-tour of the Wolhusen Totentanz in text and pictures at Atlas Obscura.
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