Bone Church
Kutna Hora, Czech Republic
Slicing through the verdant countryside from Prague, our train arrived at Kutna Hora, home to the notorious Bone Church. Some traveling friends, a few years back, had told me about it.
Off the platform at the train station there was a sign stating the “Ossuary” was only a 12 minute walk. So off we strolled down the road.
Skulls inside the Bone Church
Twelve minutes later we were in the cemetery of the Bone Church. Not knowing really what to expect, I thought bones might have been used for the architecture of the structure, but they were more for decorative purposes.
When the Plague ravaged Europe a few hundred years ago, the bones from 30,000 of the deceased were ornately arranged and hung from the ceilings and walls of the church.
Strung like party lights, skulls laced the upper walls and ceiling. A chandelier made from every bone in the body hung low over the center of the sanctuary. A pyramid of thousands of bones was in each of the four corners.
It was a grim combination of art and macabre. Yet we snapped countless photos anyway as we are fascinated with death’s manifestations.
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