Not Afraid? Visit a Czech Ossuary

Ossuary in Kutná Hora

Kutná Hora is an old town in Central Bohemia near Prague. Rich silver mines were established there in the Middle Ages, and the town competed with Prague, the capital of the Czech kingdom, in wealth and significance. Thousands of people lived there and during plague epidemics or times of war, people would meet for dignified funerals of all the deceased. The inhabitants of Kutná Hora thereby decided to build an ossuary under the All Saints Church by the cemetery in Sedlec u Kutné Hory: a sort of storage for the bones of people who died long ago. It is now home to the remains of more than 40,000 people in the ossuary! The decoration of the ossuary is unique, or even bizarre. There is a chandelier built completely from all large human bones, and decorations from human blade bones and hips. The author of this unusual decoration even appended his signature with human bones.

Ossuary in Brno and Křtiny

People in the Middle Ages only buried their relatives in the ground, they never cremated them. Therefore, it is no wonder that each larger town has its own ossuary. And the Moravian capital of Brno is no exception. The Ossuary is located by the Church of St. Jacob and is the second largest ossuary in Europe, the one in Paris being the largest. The remains of approximately 50,000 people rest there eternally. The anthropological analyses that have thus far been performed imply that the bones belong to the victims of medieval plague and cholera epidemics and battles during the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th century. Access to the ossuary is limited to preserve the piety of the place and its tours are as such only offered to a maximum 20 people at a time.

Near Brno, in the crypt of the beautiful Baroque Church of the Name of the Virgin Mary in Křtiny, are the remains of about 1,000 people. It is not very large... However, some areas of the crypt are still walled-in, awaiting discovery. And there is something in the crypt that has no parallel in the Czech Republic. Twelve skulls are painted in black and they are decorated with painted wreaths and a letter T on their foreheads. Why? No-one knows…

Historic central Bohemian cities of Mělník and Kolín

The Church of St. Peter and Paul is in the Central Bohemian city of Mělník, near the confluence of the Labe and Vltava, the two largest Czech rivers. The ossuary, one of the largest in the country, is right below the chancel. The crypt consists of a severe Gothic room that contains the remains of 10 to 15 thousand people.

The interesting Baroque ossuary in Kolín by the Church of St. Bartholomeu was built in the first half of the 18th century. The unknown architect used the brickwork from the city walls for its construction. Inside the ossuary are columns made from bone remains and a Baroque altar. The ossuary is included in the tour of the Kolín cathedral.