Catacombs of the Convento de San Francisco

Convento de San Francisco, Spanish for The Saint Francis Monastery.

The monastery is situated in Plaza de Amas in Central Lima and is considered to be part of what is known as the 'Old Lima'.  The Old Lima (what I would call downtown as opposed to uptown, 'New Lima') was declared to be a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988.

The catacombs was not discovered until 1951.  There are bones of over 24,000 people buried here, but experts have claimed the estimate was over 70,000.

In the old days, the monks used to throw the bodies into this particular 13 feet deep well.  It was filled with hot lime (quicklime) to accelerate the decay of the flesh in order to leave only the bones and to dampen the rotting smell.  The bodies were left in the well for many months and the bones of the individuals would then be indistinguishable.  Due to the strong nature of the the acid, many of the smaller bones, such as those of the fingers and toes, would not survive the process.  Most of the bones that were easily discerned were the femur, tibia and the skull.  It is estimated that from the top most level of the visible bones, it extends to about 6 feet below, all filled with bones.

The bones that are displayed these days are the ones which actually survived vandalism.  Archaeologists have expressed concern about the number of missing bones and the main suspects were, of course, the visiting tourists.  In an effort to reduce the amount of bone loss, the tour guide mentioned that if you do not stay within close proximity to the group, you will end up getting yourself lost beneath the city of Lima...and be added to the collection.