Museo e Cripta dei Cappuccini

The Museo e Cripta dei Cappuccini in Rome presents the history and spirituality of the Capuchin Order through exhibitions and the renowned crypt adorned with friars’ remains.

Planning your visit

The Capuchin museum on Via Veneto explains the order before taking visitors to the crypt, and doing it in that sequence matters. The Capuchins split from the Franciscans in 1520 seeking a stricter return to poverty, took their name from the pointed hood, and became one of the most influential reform orders of the Counter-Reformation, working with plague victims and the poor.

The museum covers that history through documents, habits, tools, manuscripts and religious art, including works attributed to Caravaggio, Guido Reni and Pietro da Cortona.

Then comes the crypt, decorated with the bones of thousands of friars over roughly a century from 1732 — an act of devotion rather than display, intended to confront visitors with mortality.

Understanding the theology first changes the crypt from macabre spectacle into something considerably more serious.

Photography is forbidden throughout the crypt.

Bookable options include walking tours covering the museum and crypt. Current availability is shown below.