Camaldolese Catacombs

Camedul caves in the basement of the church in Wigry are the place where the remains of dead monks are buried, and the tomb of Michał Karpowicz, Bishop of Wigry, is housed. Descent to the catacombs is in front of the chancel.

There are more than 40 recesses in the middle of which there are dead remains. Two of them are glazed and can see blackened bones lying dead there. One of the walls of the catacombs is an 18th-century painting entitled "Dance of Death".

Eremici, according to tradition, the dead dress up in Camedulic habit, and their bodies put on board and put into the niche, which they then wallow. Outside, they put a plate with their name, age and years of service in the Order. Due to the limited number of niches, roughly every hundred years, the remains of monks are exhumed and the bodies folded to a common grave. The very old crypts that are in the basement testify to the continuity of the Camaldolese tradition. Such a ceremonial burial of monks was in force here from the very beginning of the monastery.