Skeletons dressed in extravagant 1700s royal costumes cavort in
the aisles of this German Basilica In the Waldsassen Basillica
in Waldsassen, Germany, the halls of the church are lined with
an unusual sort of decoration. Known as the “Holy Bodies,” they
are the skeletons of Christian martyrs who were exhumed from the
catacombs of Rome between 1688 and 1765. What makes these even
more unusual than standard skeletal relics is that these
skeletons are dressed in elaborate 1700s garb, covered in
jewels, and generally look like royalty. Each year, the church
celebrates a Holy-Bodies-Fest celebrating these martyrs, with
the idea that we too are “Holy Bodies.” Beyond this, little
about the extravagantly dressed bodies is known. The church also
has a famous statue of Christ, but its arms were broken off by a
soldier. The armless Christ is seen as a symbol of forgiveness
and reconciliation, and people make pilgrimages to the church to
pray to the “savior without arms.”