Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All France Saint-Pol-de-Léon Les Étagères de la Nuit (Shelves of the Night)
AO Edited

Les Étagères de la Nuit (Shelves of the Night)

Each of these hand-painted wooden boxes, which date to between the 16th and 19th centuries, contains a genuine human skull.

Saint-Pol-de-Léon, France

Added By
La Lune Mauve
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
CAPTION
  La Lune Mauve / Atlas Obscura User
  La Lune Mauve / Atlas Obscura User
  La Lune Mauve / Atlas Obscura User
  La Lune Mauve / Atlas Obscura User
  La Lune Mauve / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Located in the Saint-Paul Aurélien cathedral in Saint-Pol-de-Léon, Les Étagères de la nuit (“Shelves of the night”) contain 31 “skull boxes” that date from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Each box contains one genuine human skull, most of which you can have a quick peek at through a heart- or trefoil-shaped hole.

Skull boxes were commonly used to keep a track of the deceased while clearing out the graveyards in order to leave space for new tombs. Five years after the body had been buried, when the remains had decomposed, the bones were removed from the grave and stored in the ossuary.

While the bones themselves were usually mixed up, the skulls were treated differently. If the deceased’s identity was known, their skull was put in a small wooden reliquary. Each box was then hand-painted, displaying the deceased’s name or initials, as well as their date of death.

While most of the boxes are painted in black or white, the shapes, patterns, and sizes of the boxes do vary from one another. However, these reliquaries are often in the shape of a tiny chapel, with a Christian cross mounted on top of them. You can see the occupation and a brief memento mori written on the front of some of the boxes too. Some boxes are adorned with common funerary symbols, such as tears of grief, a sculpted hourglass, or even a skull. A gothic feast for the eyes!

The skulls are from all ages, gender, and social class: monk, doctor, education officer, local lord, but also baker or child. Keeping the skulls of the deceased used to be pretty common in Brittany, especially in the north (Côtes d’Armor) and in the west (Finistère). This practice lasted until the early 20th century but eventually disappeared due to religious concerns.

Saint-Pol-de-Léon is home to a good half of the remaining Breton skull boxes. Sadly, the number of skull boxes has diminished through time because of theft.

Related Tags

Skulls Cathedral Burial Places Ossuaries Bones

Know Before You Go

The skull boxes are kept behind a wrought-iron gate, in a tomb niche located in the cathedral's right ambulatory.

On the reliquaries, you can sometimes read “d.c.d”: it stands for décédé·e, the French word for “deceased”, while ci gist and ci gît mean “here lies.”

Community Contributors

Added By

La Lune Mauve

Published

October 11, 2021

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • DUCROCQ Théophile, Des ossuaires et des boîtes à crânes de la Bretagne armoricaine, Poitiers, 1879-1889
  • LE DEUNFF Roger, Les ossuaires bretons, Éditions de la Plomée, Guingamp, 1999
  • LE DEUNFF Roger, Les ossuaires bretons, Éditions de la Plomée, Guingamp, 1999
  • RIO Bernard, Voyage dans l’au-delà. Les Bretons et la mort, Éditions Ouest-France, Rennes, 2013
  • https://lalunemauve.fr/boites-a-cranes-ossuaires-bretagne-finistere-cotes-armor/
Les Étagères de la Nuit (Shelves of the Night)
7 Pl. Alfred de Guébriant
Saint-Pol-de-Léon, 29250
France
48.684302, -3.986162
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Mont Saint-Michel de Brasparts

Saint-Rivoal, France

miles away

Trembling Rock

Huelgoat, France

miles away

National Botanical Conservatory of Brest

Brest, France

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of France

France

Europe

Places 692
Stories 74

Nearby Places

Mont Saint-Michel de Brasparts

Saint-Rivoal, France

miles away

Trembling Rock

Huelgoat, France

miles away

National Botanical Conservatory of Brest

Brest, France

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of France

France

Europe

Places 692
Stories 74

Related Stories and Lists

Our Favorite New Places of 2021

List

By Atlas Obscura

Related Places

  • Skulls and bones on display.

    San Martino della Battaglia, Italy

    Ossario di San Martino

    The skulls and bones of thousands of soldiers line the walls of this small Italian chapel.

  • Melník Chapel of Bones

    Melnik, Czechia

    Melník Chapel of Bones

    Underneath this small church are 15,000 bones, arranged by an obsessive academic.

  • Putim Ossuary

    Putim, Czechia

    Putim Ossuary

    The mystery of the Putim Ossuary involves a tricorn hat.

  • Cham, Germany

    Chammünster Ossuary

    In 1830, cemetery workers in Cham unearthed a chamber housing thousands of skeletal remains from the 13th century, which can still be viewed today.

  • Phnom Penh, Cambodia

    Phnom Penh Memorial Stupa

    5,000 skulls in memorial to those killed by the Khmer Rouge.

  • Skull Tower of Nis

    Niš, Serbia

    The Skull Tower of Nis

    Structure built from the skulls of vanquished foes.

  • Kudowa-Zdrój, Poland

    Kaplica Czaszek (Chapel of Skulls)

    The walls and ceiling of this Polish church are decorated with thousands of skulls, with another 21,000 skeletons just below.

  • Albertinia, South Africa

    Skull Garden

    On the grounds of a game lodge, a path decorated with the skulls of all kinds of animals.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.