Kostnice v Sedlci - SPOOKY!

The Sedlec Ossuary, also known as the Church of Bones, is located in a suburb of Kutná Hora, Czech Republic. It takes around 15-20 minutes from the main station by a walk. 

The history of Kutná Hora, located in Central Bohemia, dated back to 1142 with the settlement of Sedlec Abbey which is the first Cistercian monastery in Bohemia. It was brought from the Imperial immediate Cistercian Waldsassen Abbey. The Sedlec Ossuary is a part of the former Sedlec Abbey.

In1995 the city center is listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ossuary is among the most visited tourist attractions of the Czech Republic - attracting over 200,000 visitors annually.

I fully understand its popularity as soon as I stepped in a small Roman Catholic chapel located beneath the cemetery of all Saints.

Close to the entrance, bone chalices are displayed on both sides of stairs.

Bone chalice on the left

The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, whose bones have, in many cases, been artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel. The bone decorations were made by Czech carpenter, František Rint, who was employed by the  Schwarzenberg family in 1870.

Schwarzenberg Family coat-of-arms

Enlarged front view of above image

You may wonder why a myriad of human bones was there?

It is very symbolic that Sedlec abbey cemetery became a desirable burial site throughout Central Europe because of the fact that, in 1278, Henry, abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Sedlec, went to the Holy Land, returned with a small amount of earth he had removed from "Golgotha (=skull)" and sprinkled it over the abbey cemetery...

As a result of the devastating pandemic of the Black Death (Great Plague) in the mid 14th century and the following Hussite Wars in the early 15th century, many thousands were buried in the abbey cemetery. The cemetery had to be expanded to accommodate them.

Around 1400, a Gothic church was built in the center of the cemetery with a vaulted upper level and a lower chapel to be used as an ossuary for the mass graves unearthed during construction, or simply slated for demolition to make room for new burials... Well, then, such bones from approximately 10,000 were showcased.

Chandelier made of skulls and bones

The most eye-catching decoration in the vault is probably the enormous chandelier of bones that contains at least one of every bone in the human body. Beneath it lie four bell-shaped mounds that also draw your attention.

It was worth visiting there!

St. James Church Ossuary In Brno - SPOOKY!

This is an R-rating entry! Parental advisory is required if you're a young child!!!

You may disagree with my notion of Brno but to me, Brno is a place to see Mummies in The Capuchin Crypt and "skulls and bones" in St. James Church.

The Church of St. James Church located in current Jakubské náměstí (= James' square) started its history at the beginning of the 13th century. One of the main Brno city cemeteries are founded by the church, which was surrounded by a wall that restricted its expansion. As the city grew the capacity of the cemetery soon became insufficient. That's why an exchange burial system was adopted. After a lapse of 10- 12 years from the burial the grave was opened, the remains of the deceased person were exhumed and a recently deceased was buried in the same place. The contents of the original graves were then place in the special underground structures - ossuaries.

A three-chamber crypt was established under the paved floor of St. James' Church in the 17th century. In the beginning, the crypt was filled up with stacks made up of remains from disinterred church graves, however, it was quickly filled in the mid-18th century due to plague and cholera epidemics, which literally decimated the inhabitants of the city.

The permanent lack of space for storing bones led to the extension of the ossuary in 1741. The best solution from the construction point of view was the expansion of the new ossuary below the cemetery and its connection to the church crypt. The new ossuary was filled within 6 years and the city leadership began negotiation regarding its further extension through connection to the Chapel of the Dead, which stood nearby the church. However, the connecting corridor was prematurely terminated halfway and the plan was never implemented...

When both the crypt and the ossuary under the cemetery were full, the entrance staircase from the main nave of the church was sealed with a Latin-inscribed stone slab, Josephine reforms in 1784 led to abolishing the church cemetery for hygiene reasons. The remains from the graves were placed in the crypt, the cemetery walls were pulled down, and the area around the church was paved with unnecessary tombstones.


The ossuary in Brno was forgotten for over 200 years until it was stumbled upon in 2001 when reconstruction work was done!!!

An archaeological and underground survey resulted in the finding of the existence of a large burial complex that the individual rooms were piled up with human bones with an estimation of buried people there over 50,000!!! As described earlier, the survey confirmed the bones of the victims of medieval plague and cholera epidemics, as well as casualties during the Thirty Years' War, ranking Brno Ossuary in the second largest ossuary in Europe. The biggest one is the Catacombs of Paris, holding the remains of an estimated 6 million people!!!

The accumulated humidity and mold, if left untreated, would cause the gradual decomposition of bones and the collapse of the vault less than two meters under the busy roadway of the Jakubské square. That is why the only way to preserve this unique monument was to renovate the ossuary and open it to the public. 

During the refurbishment, all remains were collected, cleaned, and returned to their last resting place. Together with other archaeological finds, the exhibition shows the way of burying in one of the largest city cemeteries in Brno.

Entrance fee: 140 CZK (adult)
Open from 9"30 to 18"00 (closed on Monday)
Of course, taking photographs is allowed.
Detailed info can be found here.

Trip to Brno Part Two - SPOOKY!

This is a part two entry of our trip to Brno, Czech Republic.

For those who are very sensitive and naive to explicit photos of corpses - mummies, this is the link for you.

For those who have a habit of browsing over eating, keep off from this entry. Instead, here is the link for you.

Our first destination was Capuchin Crypt in Brno and this was the biggest highlight of this trip (at least to me). More information in terms of this spooky place can be found here.

I was a bit reluctant to post photos I've taken there in this photoblog, however, I had to do so solely due to an enthusiastic request from Cintia - a visiting student from Argentina...

So here we go.

It costs 60 CZK (adult) and an additional 30 CKZ for taking photos there.

From young to old when they were mummified, 24 mummified bodies of Capuchin monks are laid out in rows on the ground.

with a pile of bones...

Some are kept in coffins with glass lids. So I had to attach the circular polarizing filter to the lens in order to reduce reflection and it really worked out fine.

This entry is dedicated to Cintia! I hope that she can enjoy the photos posted here.

To be continued