Architecturally Speaking
June 21, 2019 (24/30)
Today we visited the beautiful town of Kutná Hora, famous for its successful silver mines. Kutná is also well known for one of its rather unique Churches; the bone Church, or Sedlec Ossuary. The chapel is estimated to hold the bones of about 40 to 70 thousand people. And yes, the bones are all real.
In 1278, Henry the abbott of the Cistercian monastery in Sedlec, travelled to the Holy Land. He returned to Kutná Hora with a small amount of earth and sprinkled it at the cemetery. As a result, word travelled and many people across the region wanted to be buried there, close to the holy ground.
In the early 1500’s some of the bones began being exhumed and later began being used to decorate the inside of the Church. The center chandelier is said to have every bone in the human body.
The bone Church was undoubtedly one of the craziest, most unique structures I have ever seen. I kept having to remind myself that the bones I was staring at were real, and once belonged to a human being. I have never seen anything remotely like it.
Not only was the bone Church fascinating to learn about and see, but the people there were also very intriguing. They were obsessed with taking pictures with the bones. It was funny to watch people pose next to the skulls with their selfie sticks.
I liked this particular picture because the women poses so casually next to the pile of skulls behind her. Her careless smirk appears lively next to the baron skulls. It is quite the contrast.
People of Prague 