Blogs from Kutná Hora, Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic, Europe

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 ... read more

We drove our car 3,300 km from Minsk, Belarus where we are teaching to see the cities, Christmas markets and quiet snow covered countryside of Belarus, Poland, Czech Republic and eastern Germany. The majority of our 3 week tour was spent in friendly Czech Republic. A stop in Kutna Hora on our way from Olomouc to Prague was oddly interesting. Upon entering this unheated space you descend immediately into a crypt decorated with thousands of human bones (40,000) from plagues and wars. There are bone pyramids flanking the crypt, a large central chandelier, coat of arms, and more. It is a somber and reflective place, but that didn’t deter tourists with their constant thirst for selfies in every situation.... read more

On the way to Kuta Hora I delighted in field upon field of canola, brilliant yellow and in fill bloom. I had previously thought this to be mustard. My guide was a wonderful older woman who had a lovely way about her and was always able to convey her feelings, attitudes, opinions and values throughout her commentary. She was charming and the day was glorious, bright and sunny just after an early morning rain, the sky was clear and the vista vast. Kutna Hora The town began in 1142 when established as a settlement as a Cistercian Monastary, the first in Bohemia. By 1260 German miners began to mine for silver in the mountain region, which they named Kuttenberg, and which was part of the monastery property. Under Abbot Heinrich Heidenreich the territory greatly advanced due ... read more

The ossuary at Kutna Hora has official approval from the Vatican ... It started when some bones had to be moved from an old cemetery, and the "art work" just kept growing ... it was mostly the work of one person ...... read more

August 6 - Today began lazily. It was raining and I stayed in for a while to work on my blog, which was useful. I decided that today I would take a tour of Kutna Hora, a town about an hour away that is famous for its bone church. Normally I would just go on my own as a day trip, but I decided to take a tour to get some more information about the place and because the public transport seemed a little difficult. The tour met at 11am, and by then I had finished the blog work, paid my hostel for tonight, and the rain had stopped. When I got to the tour people, Eva, the girl who would be running the tour today, told me that they need six people to do the ... read more