Kutna Hora Ossuary is closed for reconstruction. Ossuary - a church made of bones. Hluboka nad Vltava

This question can be asked by those who were simply told about the unusual church in Sedlec. Those who visited it were divided into several groups, each of which experienced their own emotions.

We’ll say one thing for sure: it’s better for impressionable people not to go inside, or after a visit to the Ossuary, go to some bright place that will block the memories of what they saw. Although, will you forget this?

The corners of the cathedral are decorated with piles of bell-shaped bones. In the center there are 4 obelisks decorated with skulls. A bone candelabra with garlands of skulls hangs from the middle of the nave. The altar monstrances did not escape the fate of being made from human bones. You will see them on both sides of the altar.

The chandelier's fastenings to the ceiling are also made of bones. An interesting fact is that the chandelier contains all the bones that are in the human body - at least one copy of each.

The coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family is present here - large and made of bones. See photo on the right, click on photo to enlarge. The author of the bone works created his signature from the same material.

Crosses, ceiling decorations, iconostasis, vault decoration, vases, arches are made from human bones treated with chlorine solution. The columns made of skulls, about one and a half meters high, will also impress.

It's hard to describe, you need to see it!

Souvenir shops are located in the Ossuary and near the Church of St. Barbara. In addition to the usual Czech souvenirs, you can also buy memorable gifts with skulls - very colorful.

Taking pictures inside the chapel is allowed, but with the flash turned off.

If you are hungry, walk along Zamecka Street, after 200 meters you will find several good restaurants with reasonable prices and a good selection.

Services for the dead are held in the church. You can light a candle, it is not forbidden.

And don’t believe the rumors that the Ossuary will be closed (and they periodically “pop up” on the Internet). The authorities of Kutná Hora will never deprive themselves of the opportunity to earn extra money from such a unique attraction.

On the territory of the temple and cemetery it is forbidden to: smoke, drink alcohol or drink in general, eat food, litter.

You can only move around the cemetery along paths. It is forbidden to approach the graves and, especially, to sit on them.

DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING inside the church building. All this is very fragile, you can spoil the Czech national treasure with an accidental movement, and there will be corresponding responsibility.

Let your impressions of the Church of All Saints be interesting, and read our useful articles about holidays in the Czech Republic ( links below).

70 kilometers from the capital of the Czech Republic is the small town of Kutna Hora. It is famous for its medieval Gothic church, which is one of the darkest and most frightening shrines in Central Europe. The basilica is a world-famous crypt, the unusual interior of which is decorated with human bones. Kostinets is filled with a chilling atmosphere. The remains of hundreds of thousands of people in the dimly lit room form decorative elements that represent a horrifying work of bone art. A visit to this place makes you think about human values, the transience of life and the inevitability of death.

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In Kutna Hora there is a small church with a ossuary. This distinctive Gothic tomb is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The church earned its honorary status thanks to its amazing decoration, for the design of which materials of natural origin, which were human remains, were used. The tragic style of decoration attracts millions of tourists. In other countries and cities you can also find similar attractions, but on a smaller scale. Only in the Czech Republic there is the only church in the world where a huge number of objects made from human bones are collected.

Hip, tibia, and humerus bones, ribs, vertebrae, and skulls adorn the walls and ceiling of the basilica. Chandeliers, crosses, bowls, vases, candelabra, garlands and other parts of church utensils are made from the skeletons of more than 50,000 bodies. Most of the bones date back to 1318, when the Czech Republic was struck by plague.

History of creation

The Roman Catholic church was part of the Sedlec monastery, founded in 1142. The chapel was erected in the 14th century not far from the cemetery, the territory of which subsequently rapidly expanded. This was facilitated by the abbot of the monastery, who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Upon his return, he brought to his native monastery a handful of earth from the hill where Jesus Christ was crucified. The abbot scattered holy soil over the cemetery, after which the burial place gained fame among the aristocrats of Bohemia, who preferred sacred ground for their resting place.

At the turn of the 14th-15th centuries, when the Czech Republic was hit by a plague epidemic and religious strife flared up, the territory of the cemetery expanded significantly. Disease and wars led to many deaths. More than 40,000 people were buried here, resulting in a shortage of places for new burials. The monastery leadership decided to remove the old bones and move them to the basement of the chapel. Human remains were carefully placed in a special storage facility called a crypt. According to legend, a half-blind monk artistically built six large pyramids from bones, four of which can still be seen in the church. After this, the abbot’s sight allegedly returned.

In 1784, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, Joseph II, ordered the closure of Siedlce Abbey and cemetery. The church and the adjacent territory of the monastery became the property of the aristocratic family of the princes of Schwarzenberg, who were at that time large landowners in Bohemia. The new owner was not impressed by the church's property in the form of a mountain of skulls and bones. He hired local woodcarver František Rint to create decorative elements for the chapel from a pile of skeletons.

The prince was not worried that the eccentric basilica would be a symbol of blasphemous mockery of the remains of human bodies and an insult to Christian rituals. At that time, one of his relatives was an Austro-Hungarian cardinal, so approval from church leaders was ensured. Soon, many residents of the Bohemian kingdom began to consider the ossuary a sacred place. They believed that the people whose bones decorate the interior of the chapel would be the first to be resurrected on Judgment Day. The result of Frantisek Rinat's work exceeded all expectations.

After polishing and disinfecting with bleach, Rint skillfully set about transforming the bones into works of art for the church's interior. The artist made intricate figures from bones, including four chandeliers, a huge chalice, a decorative chain of dozens of skulls and much more. As a sign of gratitude to his patrons, Frantisek Rint decorated one of the walls of the chapel with the Schwarzenberg family coat of arms. Many small details of the bone composition reproduced elements of the princely emblem.

Rint's works have been preserved in almost their original form. In the 21st century, the chapel building and bone decorations required restoration work. The building sank dangerously, and dampness constantly accumulated in the basements of the crypt. Restoration efforts began in 2014 and continue to this day. However, despite the renovation, the ossuary remains open to tourists.

Description

The church is a typical example of the Baroque-Gothic architectural style. The basilica, with its simple structure and strict lines, is quite inconspicuous in appearance. The building's modest stone façade with arched windows is topped with two hexagonal towers. Between them there is a pediment with a statue of the Virgin Mary. The small church is visually lengthened by the extension in front of the entrance.

The decoration of the Ossuary is of greatest interest. The basement of the chapel is located at a depth of three meters. In the prevailing coolness and darkness of the lower tier of the church, four giant mounds of bones are stacked in the shape of a bell with a hole for ventilation in the middle. Above each three-meter mounds hang wooden crowns, representing the symbol of victory over death. Up close, these “hills” look especially intimidating.

Between the vaulted ceiling and the arches of the main hall there is a garland of leg bones and skulls. In the center of the chapel there are four pyramidal columns framed by skulls. On top of them are small plaster cherubs (angels) with golden wings. Thus, a strange contrast is formed in a rather ominous atmosphere. In the niches of the basilica walls, lined with crossed bones, goblets, vases, glasses and candelabra are placed. Thousands of small fragments of the human skeleton were used to create church objects.

The main altar of the temple consists of a small brick pedestal on which stands a cross with the crucified Jesus. The bowls and crosses placed along the walls are made of hip bones. You can pay attention to the glass cabinets with skulls that have cracks. The damage indicates a violent nature of death.

The most outstanding feature of the church's interior is the grandiose central chandelier, consisting of all the bones of the human body. Its diameter is more than two meters. Candlesticks stand on snow-white skulls, “looking” at the brave visitors to the ossuary. The chandelier is suspended from the ceiling on a chain, the links of which are made of jaws. Below it is a stone slab that serves as the entrance to the crypt where 15 nobles are buried. On one of the walls of the church you can see the autograph of the main artist who designed the interior of the temple. As befits the style of this church, the initials are made of bone materials.

Above the entrance to the chapel you can see an inscription in Latin made from fragments of human bones. It denotes parting words addressed to visitors to the ossuary: “We were you, and soon you will be us.”

Early in the morning at the entrance toHotel Prokop A Skoda Fabia of a non-green color, unusual for Moscow, was waiting for us. Apparently it was the car of one of the family members of one of the hotel employees.

There was no car rental as such at the hotel, but there was, let’s say, additional income. But, as you understand, we didn’t care: we got the car, they got the money. This pleasure cost 700 CZK: we rented a car for a day, the rental itself cost 500 CZK and delivery to the hotel cost 200 CZK.

Having placed a PDA on the windshield visor and placed a GPS sensor on the dashboard, we plotted a route to Kutna Hora and drove off.

Kutná Hora is a small town 60 kilometers east of Prague, famous primarily for its nearby Kostnice v Sedlci. The city itself was founded in the first half of the 13th century and was the center of the silver mining industry, making the city the second richest in the Czech Kingdom.

In the center of the city rises the Cathedral of St. Barbara, the patroness of miners, the second largest and most important Gothic temple in the Czech Republic.

After wandering around the city for about an hour, we headed to Sedlec.

Ossuary in Sedlec (Kostnice v Sedlci)

The Cemetery Church of All Saints with its ossuary is a Gothic chapel in Sedlec, decorated with human skulls and bones.

Initially, the tomb was used as a warehouse for human remains brought here from the local cemetery, in the center of which it was built. Its purpose, so unusual at first glance, had a completely logical explanation.

In 1278, Abbot Henry brought and scattered a handful of Holy Land from Golgotha ​​in the cemetery. Thanks to this, the cemetery became very famous in Central Europe and soon could not accommodate all those who wanted it. In this regard, it was decided to remove the remains from the graves, making room for the next burials, and put them in the tomb.

The chapel took on its modern appearance only at the end of the 19th century, when the monastery lands were bought by the Schwarzenberg family. The new owners hired woodcarver František Rint to tidy up the pile of stacked bones. About 40,000 human skeletons were used to decorate the chapel.

The appearance of the chapel, as well as the whole story associated with it, is quite creepy. Shivering from her visit, we hurried to the car to quickly leave this place. Rain is coming.

Karlovy Vary (Czech. Karlovy Vary, German.

Karlovy Vary is a resort town about 150 kilometers west of Prague, famous for the presence of hot springs of mineral water with healing properties.

To get to it from Kutná Hora we first had to “return” to Prague, and then drive about 2 hours to the west. Near Prague, on top of everything else, we got into a small traffic jam caused by road repairs, so we arrived in Karlovy Vary after 3 days.

The rain did not let up, so our acquaintance with the city was very short. Having parked the car in the parking lot near the station, we began to get acquainted with the city in short runs.

The first point of acquaintance was the Jan Becher Museum. Having bought a couple of bottles of Becherovka, we moved on. Walking along Masaryka Street to the Osvobozeni embankment, we got completely wet and went to a restaurant for lunch. Having warmed up and eaten, I didn’t want to go back to the car at all. It was already dark outside and the rain continued to drizzle.

Having gathered our will into a fist, we finally tore our asses off from our homes, and, having stocked up on the “dark goat” in the supermarket along the way, we got to the car and set off on the way back to Prague.

On the outskirts of the Czech city of Kutna Hora is the town of Sedlec. And it is known primarily for the fact that it houses the Ossuary (ossuary).

In 1278, the abbot of the Cistercian monastery, Henry, brought some land from Golgotha. This earth was scattered throughout the abbey cemetery. Thanks to this, the abbey cemetery became a very popular burial place. In 1400, a cathedral was built in the center of the cemetery, which was supposed to serve as a warehouse for the bones of those previously buried, since the cemetery simply did not have enough space.

The Latin word for ossuary means a place to store remains. It comes from the word “ossis” - bone. So the Russian-language “ossuary” sounds quite justified. Ossuaries began to appear a very long time ago - remains were found in France that were more than six thousand years old.

There are several types of ossuaries and they differ in the way they store remains. For example, Jewish ossuaries involved storing the remains in a specially made box. The boxes were individual, and the dimensions of the box were determined by the dimensions of the bones of the deceased. Thus, the width of the box was equal to the width of the hip bone, the length corresponded to the length of the thigh, and the height corresponded to the total volume of the bones. By the way, moving the bones into these boxes was the second stage of the funeral. Before this, the body of the deceased was placed in a niche in a burial cave for a year - this was enough for the body to decay, and only bones remained of the deceased. The ritual of the Zoroastrians is somewhat similar. The bodies were also left there for a year, but they were not placed in caves, but, on the contrary, on a special hill away from the city.

There the bodies decayed, or (which was more often) they were gnawed by birds. Such a body, or rather the bones, were considered clean (and Zoroastrians are forbidden to bury bodies in the ground or fire) and could be placed in an ossuary. Towers specially built for this purpose acted in this capacity.

The ossuary in Sedlec belongs to the Catholic type (which is not surprising). Catholic ossuaries keep the bones open in crypts or chapels. This was often done in order to save space in cemeteries - there were many epidemics in the Middle Ages. The Sedlec Ossuary contains the remains of 40,000 people. However, it is very far from the largest - Paris, where the number of “buried” is about six million people.

In the 16th century, when the plague was raging in Europe, one monk, whose name has not been preserved by history, worked on yet another cleanup of the cemetery. Little is known about him at all. The only thing is that he was half-blind and was not afraid of the plague, since he had immunity. But he was a creator with his own sense of beauty. It was this feeling that made him bleach the bones in chlorine and lay out the pyramids in the corners of the room. He built stone crowns over the corner pyramids. After his death, and he died in the same ossuary, the chapel was closed. For three hundred and fifty years. Already at the end of the 19th century, when Prince Schwarzenberg bought this place, they decided to put the ossuary in order. The prince did not like the pyramids and hired woodcarver Frantisek Rint to tidy up the piles of bones. But what he accomplished can be seen here.

There is a plague pillar at the entrance to the cemetery.

Plague pillars were very common in Central Europe. They were installed as a sign of gratitude for the end of the pestilence. At the top of the pillar, as a rule, a statue of the Virgin Mary was installed. Although, of course, there are exceptions...

Cathedral - Ossuary.

A candelabra hangs in the center of the hall.

It contains all human bones.

Piles of bones. In total, there are about 40,000 human skeletons in the Ossuary. Crowns are visible above the bones.

Family coat of arms of the Schwarzenbergs - owners of the ossuary.

One of the most discussed and condemned attractions of the Czech Republic - the famous Ossuary of Kutna Hora - is awaiting a global reconstruction.

Fortunately or otherwise (depending on your attitude towards the ashes of the dead), the ossuary will continue to receive visitors during the renovation work.

The reconstruction will begin in July 2014 and will initially only affect the roof and rafters. It is expected that this stage of work will last approximately a year and a half and will require an investment of several million crowns.

The second stage of work will become more scrupulous. Restorers will “repair” the exhibits: all 40,000 bones will undergo a thorough inspection, research, and cleaning. Then each item will return to its usual place. Experts say that each of the four “pyramids” will take at least one year.

By the way, recently a curious incident occurred related to the Ossuary. Despite all the security measures, one of the visitors managed to remove the skull unnoticed. So, for some, remains, and for others, a souvenir. For the long memory.

Russian question

Well, a short digression on the burning topic: “Russian tourists and the Czech Republic.” Locals have already felt a decrease in tourist flow from the Eastern direction. According to the Association of Travel Agencies of the Czech Republic, hotel bookings decreased significantly in 2014 compared to the figures of two years ago. In terms of indicators, this was expressed as 8-22%.

The main reason is the devaluation of the ruble and the crisis expectations of Russians. The overt anti-Russian position of the leadership of the Czech Republic also affected the mood of tourists. To some extent, the annexation of the new region to Russia and active recreation in Crimea, hotly promoted in the media, could have had an impact. It might not have had any effect, however.

For reference: in 2013, 860 thousand Russians visited the Czech Republic. On average, everyone spent 4,000 crowns every day. Good money, although not as much as in the case of the Chinese.
Unlike Czech politicians, tour operators do not want to lose Russian tourists. If the ruble continues to fall, they are ready to put pressure on hotels, demanding lower prices.

Follow the press reports!..

One of the most amazing and extraordinary monuments of world architecture is the Ossuary in the Czech Republic. This structure was erected over several centuries in order to remind all of humanity how terrible and terrible death is. Of course, the frame of the building itself is made of more durable building materials, but the arches, portals, decorations, inscriptions, as well as the famous chandelier included the bones of more than 40 thousand people.

The ossuary in the Czech Republic is now located in a town located 70 kilometers from Prague. In ancient times, this village was built on a silver deposit, and therefore was a major economic and commercial center of the country. Later, these treasures were exhausted here, and the city itself was covered by a wave of plague. This was followed by armed uprisings and wars that finally destroyed the former financial center of the state, and Kutna Hora became just a small province. However, the same notorious Ossuary still glorifies it.

The 13th century was a terrible time. People died in large numbers, and as a result, cemeteries grew across uninhabited areas at tremendous speed. Soon, secondary burials began to be practiced in the country, and those bones that had already spent many years in the ground were taken out and placed in the local Sedlec monastery, which served as a chapel at the cemetery. By the 14th century, the bones of more than 40 thousand people had collected in this place, and one of the monks decided to bleach them. Gradually clearing out each bone, he stacked them into pyramids, which eventually turned out to be 6 pieces, each several meters long. After the death of this monk, the Sedlec Monastery was closed for 350 years.

The Ossuary itself in the Czech Republic was born in the 18th century, when a certain F. Rint carved a real work of art from all these human remains. Its technology still remains secret, but the wonders of this non-standard art form delight the eye and inspire philosophical reflection. It is also known that everyone who enters this church will remember the terrible beauty for the rest of their lives.

The ossuary in the Czech Republic includes absolutely all parts of the human skeleton. The oblong ones became the basis for the coat of arms and crown, skulls decorated the portals and arches. But the greatest delight is caused by the huge chandelier, in which the master placed bones of all kinds: both phalanges and twisted coccyxes. It is worth noting that this cathedral is very large, and despite this, each of its cells, each hall and passage is equipped with patterns and hand-cutting from this material. That is why the Ossuary in the Czech Republic is considered a temple, an example of the severity of Medieval architecture and the horror that a human skeleton can instill in the soul.

Photos of this work of art, as well as its most outstanding parts, are presented in the article, and before traveling to this country, you can appreciate the greatness and horror that lurk in this place. Finally, it is worth noting that, despite the huge number of human remains concentrated in one place, there are still no legends about possible ghosts and spirits living here.

The Czech Republic is an amazing country with a rich cultural heritage. In an era of reckless faith in God, Gothic cathedrals and churches were erected across the country, some of which are still breathtaking. In the city of Kutna Hora there is an architectural monument that is amazing on the outside and terrifying on the inside - the Ossuary, a church made of bones. The church was built to remind us of death. All the decoration of the chapel is made from human bones.

A Brief History of the Church on Bones. In 1278, the Polish king Otakar II sent the abbot of Siedlce to the holy land in Jerusalem. The monk returned and scattered a handful of earth over the monastery cemetery; it became popular among the residents. Then Europe experienced plague epidemics, city cemeteries grew in area very quickly, and burials began in several layers. One old monk in 1511 began to transfer the bones taken out to the surface of the ground to the underground part of the church, after bleaching them, he placed them in six pyramids 2-3 meters high. Now on the site of the Sedlec Monastery ossuary there are the remains of 40,000 people. If these monks knew what the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the storage of bones would turn out to be, they would turn over in their graves.

The idea of ​​decorating the church appeared in the 18th century, when Prince Schwarzenberg, the owner of the monastery land, thought about the eternal. I gave the Gothic work to local woodcarver Frantisek Rint. The carver soaked the bones in bleach and created his creations, which became the basis of the “Church of Bones.”

The chandelier is the most complex work, amazing to the point of horror! The woodworker used at least one example of each of the human bones. The entrance went to the bones of the human skeleton from the phalanx of the fingers to the bones of the coccyx. In Kostnitsa, the chandelier was attached to the ceiling with jaws.

Prince Schwarzenberg immortalized the idea with a family coat of arms made of bones. The coat of arms is skillfully made from a thousand bones. The parts are selected to size and laid out symmetrically on one of the far walls.

The pyramids of bones that the monk built are now behind bars. It’s not the empty eye sockets of the skulls that are frightening, but the sharp alarm siren upon contact with the fence.

The living are no hindrance to the dead. Renovation of a church made of bones.

Second floor of the church in Kutna Hora.

The Gothic chapel and ossuary in Sedlec are surrounded by a small cemetery and a fence. Concrete skulls on pillars and drawings on the sidewalks warn you as you approach where you will end up.

The Czech Ossuary is a must-visit place. I guarantee that you will get ambiguous impressions here for the rest of your life: not a drop of fear, only philosophy.

The ossuary in Kutna Hora is the most famous ossuary, a place for storing skeletal remains, in Eastern Europe. In Western Europe, I know about the Parisian catacombs, if I have a chance to return to Paris, I will definitely visit :)