Kutná Hora

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I visited here on the advice of a fellow traveller when I was in my twenties (roughly the same age as Jacqueline). At the time, it wasn’t in my guidebook but it’s one of the only things that I truly remember well about my time in Czech back then. It is a very unique experience.

The Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic chapel located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints (aka bone church). The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, whose bones have been artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel. Four bell-shaped mounds occupy the corners of the chapel. A chandelier of bones, which apparently contains at least one of every bone in the human body, hangs in the center of the chapel. There are numerous other works within.

History: In 1278, Henry, the abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Sedlec, was sent to the Holy Land by King Ottokar II of Bohemia. He returned with a small amount of earth he had removed from Golgotha and sprinkled it over the abbey cemetery. The word of this pious act soon spread and the cemetery in Sedlec became a desirable burial site throughout Central Europe. In the mid 14th century, during the Black Death, and after the Hussite Wars in the early 15th century, many thousands were buried in the abbey cemetery, so it had to be greatly enlarged. 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. According to legend, after 1511, the task of exhuming skeletons and stacking their bones in the chapel was given to a half-blind monk. Significant restorations have been done in the last few years. For more in-depth history see sedlec.info/en/ossuary/history/

St. Barbara’s Church was a delightful surprise. I didn’t visit this previously, and since we had the day Jacq & I decided to wander around the town center. I love being surprised by grandeur, and I was very surprised when I turned the corner and saw this beautiful baroque/gothic cathedral (it isn’t actually a cathedral, but it’s in the style of a cathedral … honestly, I’m not sure what makes something qualify).

All in all, wonderful day spent in Kutná Hora.

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Photos

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Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist

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side view of Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist

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Cemetery Church of All Saints (aka the bone church) contains the Sedlec Ossuary beneath. I'll add some stock photos later as I learned I wasn't supposed to take pictures inside.

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Sedlec Ossuary. Nearly everything inside is made from the bones dug from the cemetery when they built this church. It's eerie but surprisingly tasteful.

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Chandelier which apparently contains every bone in the human body.

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Lunch (right beside St Barbara's Cathedral)

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I had a traditional beef sirloin dish. The sauce was delicious (good thing because there was a lot of it). On the front of the plate is a type of sweet bread that was also quite tasty.

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St. Barbara's Cathedral. The baroque/gothic elements of the design are more evident from this angle.

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St. Barbara's Cathedral. One of the most impressive cathedrals I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot). Built between the late 1300s to the early 1500s (though it wasn't completed until the early 1900s)

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panoramic taken from the balcony of St. Barbara's Cathedral.

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The inside of the cathedral was extremely intricate, especially the ceiling.

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St. Barbara's Cathedral.

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the town of Kutna Hora

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the town of Kutna Hora