The Museum of the holy souls in purgatory is located in Rome.
Situated in a tiny room in the Sacro Cuore del Suffragio church (about 10 minutes from the Vatican), it is not exactly one of the city’s top tourist destinations.
However, it houses a unique collection which, despite its size, is unusual enough to be worth a visit.
A vision amidst the flames
The museum was created following a fire in the old chapel of the church in 1897.
Father Victor Jouët saw a suffering human face amidst the flames.
He interpreted it as a soul trying to escape purgatory, and set out in search of objects with similar stories.
The church refused to exhibit an unfounded collection and subsequently limited the “evidence” to those which were deemed “verifiable.”
Verifiable evidence of the afterlife?
As a result, the small room, measuring approximately 8 square meters, displays only a dozen objects, each accompanied by its own story.
Fire marks are visible on almost all of them, representing the souls of the deceased trying to communicate with their families or members of the church, or simply to finally leave purgatory.
Being highly skeptical, I think those marks are mainly showing the agony of burn victims during their last moments.
Some of the imprints are really striking.
Visiting the museum is free (although a donation is semi-mandatory at the entrance).
