Sedlec Ossuary is located in a suburb of Kutna Hora, in the Czech Republic. It's one of many churches in the Czech Republic, undistinguished on the outside.
Inside, however, is a different matter. Upon entering, the visitor is confronted with the sight of a stack of skulls and bones, one on each side of the staircase leading to the nether regions. After descending the stairs, the full effect is felt. A chandelier made largely of spinal vertebrae hangs from the ceiling; pyramids of skulls look sightlessly from behind metal grids; a coat of arms made entirely of human bones is displayed near a window; display cases show off skulls showing the hideous wounds that killed their former owners.
King Otakar Creates Holy Burial Ground
A Cistercian monastery, which was founded in 1142, once stood near the site. In the year 1278, Henry, the abbot of Sedlec, took a journey to Jerusalem on the orders of the King of Bohemia, Otakar II. Upon his return, he proudly displayed a prize he had taken from the Holy Land - a container of earth from Golgotha. This soil was scattered over the Sedlec graveyard, with predictable results; everyone demanded to be buried in this holy ground.
The fame of the cemetery extended beyond Kutna Hora, and even beyond Prague and Bohemia; the elite of Central Europe expected to be interned in the cemetery. Over the centuries, war (especially the Hussite Wars) and plague added to the death toll, and the cemetery experienced overcrowding. (The plague, in particular, ravaged the area, with approximately 30,000 people buried in the cemetery in the year 1318 alone.)
At the beginning of the 15th century, a chapel was constructed in the middle of the cemetery, the lower part of which was meant to serve as an ossuary. As was the practice of the time, the bones of the long-buried bodies were to be thrown away, so that the graves could be used for the more recently deceased.
Frantisek Rint Creates Sculptures with Human Bones
In Sedlec, however, all the bones were kept, and stored in the lower part of the chapel. It was in 1871 that the noble Schwarzenberg family employed a woodcarver, Frantisek Rint, to sort out the bones. Rint promptly took the bones and created his macabre works from them, which remain to this day. (He also put his own name, in bones, on one wall.)
Kutna Hora is about an hour from Prague by train, with frequent connections. The website gives information on the times it is open, and the cost of entry.
Erin Naillon - I am deeply interested in the supernatural, as well as history (especially women's history) and true crime. The paranormal has always ...
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