Destination Report: Kostnice Ossuary A.K.A. The Bone Church

There’s a humorous travel tale about how a case of explosive diarrhea got me a train ride to Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic. If you missed it, it may be worth your time to read this hilarious travel article.

The church is known by three or four names – I don’t know why, but whatever moniker whether Sedlec Ossuary, Kostnice Ossuary or Church of Bones – they all refer to the same wonderful place. This church is far and away one of the neatest things I have seen while traveling. Maybe I’m a closet goth or maybe I’m seduced by the macabre. I think in reality that my fascination with the Kostnice Ossuary lies in the irony that people would worship amongst bones. There’s an inexplicable incongruence in that act that baffles me. The artistry and creativity displayed in the design are also quite remarkable. The story behind it is a spectacle in itself.

How the Bone Church came to be
In the late 13th century the king of Bohemia sent the abbot of the monastery in Sedlec on a mission. The abbot returned to Sedlec with a small amount of sacred soil from Golgatha which was sprinkled on the church’s cemetery. Word of this now hallowed ground spread rapidly throughout the kingdom and people wanted to be buried in this holiest of cemeteries. The cemetery’s popularity remained high during the black plague of the 14th century and the Hussite wars of the 15th. People were dying to get in to the cemetery

Sometime around 1400 a new Gothic church was built on the cemetery grounds. The church had a “basement” that was to serve as an ossuary for the mass graves which were dug up during the construction of the new church. Legend states that the task of stacking the bones was given to a blind monk.

Renovations and further construction of the church took place in the early 1700′s and finally in 1870 an Italian architect was hired to do something with the bones. The results of his handiwork are shown in these photographs. The most impressive piece is the chandelier. It contains at least one of every bone in the human body. There are huge heaps of skulls stacked in the corners of the church, an impressive coat of arms and many more aesthetically pleasing works of art done in a medium rarely seen wherever you may travel in the world

The most impressive piece is this chandelier

Overall, the Czech Republic is a delightful world travel destination and highly recommended.