The Bone Church

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A bone candelabrum

INSIDE ONE OF THE WORLD'S BEST KNOWN OSSUARIES

Inside the Ossuary

It is almost like being in a room full of ghosts that you can actually see. A short flight of stairs leads down to a candle-lit ossuary and the visitor is immediately taken aback by garlands of human skull, bone chandeliers, and chalices with which this small Gothic chapel is decorated. Images of skulls in various forms, including skull buntings that are artfully draped between beams present the visitor with an amazing sight. Here, skulls are everywhere, lining the walls, hanging overhead, perching on the side, in front and beside the visitor. And as the visitor stares in awe, the skulls seem to stare back humorlessly, generating goose bumps and a strange, indescribable sensation.

Outside the cemetery church

Welcome to the Cemetery Church of All Saints renowned in Czech Republic for its ossuary featuring two large chalices, four baroque candelabras, six pyramids, and candle holders, all made with bones.

For 600 years in the capital city of Prague, the 30 statues of Christian saints that line the famous Charles Bridge have watched excited and weary tourists, fictional spies, and even pilgrims walk, camera in hand, from Malà Strana to the Old Town while nearby the city’s baroque castle looms over a cityscape like something straight out of a fairytale.

Garlands of skulls

Side wall inside the ossuary

But for many tourists, the main spectacle is the awe-inspiring church 70 kilometers east of the capital, in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutnà Hora, which, in fact, is one of the twelve World Heritage Sites in the Czech Republic. This Cemetery Church was a part of the oldest Cistercian monastery in Bohemia founded in 1142. Architecturally, it is a Gothic charnel house with an upper chapel and an underground ossuary.

A major tourist attraction

Legend has it that one of the local abbots was sent by the Czech king to Jerusalem around the year 1278. The Abbot brought back a handful of soil from Golgotha and scattered it over the Sedlec cemetery, which was used for consecrating and healing. During great epidemics in the 14^th century, the cemetery was considerably extended, hosting 30,000 corpses. But, with the capture of Kutnà Hora in the spring of 1421 by Hussite troops, Sedlec was attacked and the cathedral plundered and burnt. Consequently, the cemetery was partially reduced at the end of the 15^th century and bones from the discarded graves were moved to the ossuary. 

Part of the Sedlec cemetery

Side view of the Bone church

Bone pyramid

A half-blind monk who arranged the bones and skulls to the pyramids, according to legend, got his eyesight back after his work. But the Sedlec monstaery was abolished by Joseph II. in 1783. The property of the abbey was purchased by the Schwarzenberg family from Orlik and thanks to their patronage the Sedlec Ossuary was maintained. Interestingly, the baroque bone decoration was renewed and extended by Frankišek Rint from Českà Skalice in 1870 with the bones disinfected and bleached with chlorinated lime and placed in original patterns – a chandelier in the middle of the chapel and a coat of arms of the Schwarzenbergs. 

Spectacular bone chandelier

     

Front view of the bone church

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