In Canneto sull’Oglio, a small town in the province of Mantua, there is a small church where the walls are covered in thousands of photographs of the dead.
The Church of Santa Croce was built between 1697 and 1745, as an ex-voto following the plague of 1630 that halved the population of the village. In 1810, to comply with Habsburg laws prohibiting intra muros burial, a new cemetery came into operation, depriving the inhabitants of the proximity of their dead. However, the latter decided to bring their memory back inside the village to the Church of Santa Croce.
The first tombstones to be placed there were those of wealthier families, while the poor used simpler and less expensive things, often built by themselves. The church became filled with embroidered pictures, drawings, and wreaths of flowers.
Around the end of the 19th century, they began to display photographs of the faces of their loved ones on the walls. There are old people, children, and even whole families. Over time, the building became a large album of everyone who had lived in the village. Gradually, the space occupied by the pictures became so large that the church became known as the “Church of the Dead.” These photographs remain in place today as an everlasting reminder of the village’s former residents.
