One of the most discussed and condemned Czech Republics – the famous one – is facing 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 .
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!..

Attention to the faint of heart, defenders of the faith and moralists - to correctly understand this place, you need to know its history!

Ossuary in the CZECH REPUBLIC - church made of human bones (SEDLEC, KUTNA HORA)

On the outskirts of the city of Kutna Hora in the town of Sedlec in the Czech Republic there is a unique structure - a holy cemetery with Bethlehem soil and the famous Kosnitsa Temple. An ossuary is nothing more than a chapel of a Catholic church with a ossuary. But that's exactly what The ossuary is unique and the only one in the world. This is a kind of tribute to the death and historical memory of local residents, a reminder of the frailty of all things, the transience of our lives and the day of judgment. The temple is decorated with the remains of 40 thousand people - there are human skulls and bones everywhere...

From the street, the building of the Ossuary does not particularly stand out; behind the monastery fence, near a modest cemetery, there is a small church entangled in scaffolding.

After the plague epidemic and the religious wars of the Hussists, there was a catastrophic shortage of space, the cemetery grew, but the number of dying was still much greater than the territory of the monastery land could accommodate. Then it was decided to build a church with a tomb here - the so-called ossuary. In fact, the tomb was an ordinary warehouse of bones that were removed from old graves, and the free space in the cemetery was used for the second and third round... After some time, the space in the ossuary ran out, and then one of the old half-blind monks decided to put in order the piles of accumulated bones , bleached them in a special disinfectant solution and carefully folded them into four huge pyramids.

This was the case until 1870, when the land with the Ossuary became the property of the Schwarzenberg family. They decided to tidy up and improve the old warehouse of bones and hired a talented woodcarver, Frantisek Rint, whose main task was to create the interior of the church from the accumulated bones. Four now symbolic pyramids remained in the center of the temple, as a reminder of the past merits of the caring monk.

The results of Frantisek Rint's work have been impressing visitors for many years: garlands of bones and skulls hang from the ceiling...

In the center of the church, a huge bone chandelier descends from the ceiling, in which all the bones of the human skeleton are involved in full:

To the left of the entrance to the crypt there is a large Schwarzenberg family coat of arms, also made of bones, of course:

Initially, the coat of arms was missing a detail in the lower right corner - the head and raven appeared later, by order of a family, one of whose members saved the country from the invasion of the Turks by tracking down and killing a Turkish spy. It is his skull that now adorns the family coat of arms, where a raven rather symbolically pecks out the eyes of an enemy spy.

On the sides of the stairs there are vases and columns made of human bones...

Even the city's coat of arms, the monastery's coat of arms and the master's autograph on the wall are made of the same material. That is why the Czech Ossuary is unique and the only such structure in the world. Ossuary depositories can be found in other countries and cities - mountains of skulls, mountains of bones... But nowhere else in the world are there such a large number of interior items created from human bones.

Many consider this attitude towards the remains to be barbaric and sacrilege, but the temple is located below ground level, which means that the bones are actually in the ground, in a crypt, and buried according to all church canons, plus they were buried according to all the rules in the cemetery earlier. The room is well lit and ventilated, services are regularly held here and candles are always lit in memory of everyone who is buried here. Anyone can leave 4 crowns in the donation box and light their own memorial candle.

The impressions are, of course, mixed. But as for me, I personally would prefer to be such an ornament after death than to simply rot in an earthen pit. And I don’t see anything offensive here at all.

It is not recommended for particularly impressionable people, pregnant women and people with a delicate mental structure. For others, the chapel is open 7 days a week, from morning to evening and seven days a week. The cost of an adult entrance ticket is about 100 CZK. You can take as many photographs as you like, but without flash. Here you can also buy historical brochures, magnets, coins, T-shirts and other souvenirs with the symbols of the Ossuary.

ATTENTION! The ossuary will soon be closed for several years for reconstruction!
The church itself and the lands of the adjacent cemetery are actively subsiding underground. But there is no mysticism in this. Like most of the buildings in Kutná Hora and Sedlec (more details in the next post), these lands stand on hollow mines, silver mining was carried out here for several centuries, and almost the entire surrounding area is dotted with underground tunnels and empty cavities that are actively eroded by groundwater. Therefore, over time, the land and the buildings built on them settle. And if you are going to visit this unique place, I recommend doing so in the near future.

Operating mode: November - February from 9:00 to 16:00, October and March from 9:00 to 17:00, April - September from 8:00 to 18:00.

HOW TO GET FROM PRAGUE TO KUTNA HORA?

* BY TRAIN: From the main railway station to the Kutná Hora hlavní nádraží station is 73 km, which is approximately 1 hour. According to the schedule, the first train leaves Prague at 5:16, and the last at 23:16. In the opposite direction - at 5:00 and 22:24. The ticket costs approximately 3 euros (if you buy it in advance). You can check the schedule, cost and buy a ticket through a single service idos.cz

* BY BUS: from the bus station ÚAN Florenc and metro station Praha Háje to the bus station Kutná Hora autobusové stanice routes daily from 6:00 to 22:00. In the opposite direction - from 4:50 to 20:22. Some routes require 1-2 transfers, this is about 65 km, travel time is approximately 1.40-2.00 hours. The price of a ticket for a direct route one way is about 2.50 euros, a trip with a transfer is 2.2 euros. Schedule, route type, ticket price and purchase are also possible through the single service idos.cz.

* WITH EXCURSION: at agencies near the Olroy clock in the center of Prague, an excursion in a small group for 15-20 people with a Russian-speaking historian guide for the whole day, with a visit to Kutna Hora, the Ossuary in Sedlec and some Czech castle will cost about 35 euros .

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 :)

Every time we were in Prague, we planned to stop by the famous Czech Ossuary. But everything somehow fell through and didn’t work out. And finally, in the cold winter of 2017, my friends and I went by car to this, to put it mildly, unusual, but very memorable place.

Not far from Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, there is a small city called. For several centuries it was known for its large silver mines. But these sources of mineral resources have not been active for a long time, and the city could become a quiet, peaceful place. But…

But life here is in full swing, and all thanks to a historical landmark that is known not only in the Czech Republic, but also outside the country - the Cemetery Church of All Saints. A more common name is Ossuary .

From Prague, getting to Sedlec (a place near the city of Kutná Hora) by car will not be difficult. The distance is about 80 km. The route was suggested to us by the navigator. You can leave your car in the parking lot in front of the Ossuary.

Near the chapel there are souvenir shops and beer restaurants with very good prices for a foamy drink (a bonus for those who do not drive). And within a five-minute walk there is another attraction that deserves attention - the Church of the Ascension of the Mother of God.

It is worth setting aside a whole day for a trip to Sedlec and Kutná Hora. There is something to see and where to walk, especially if you are luckier than we are with the weather).

History of the creation of the ossuary and description

So, what did we see in Sedlec and about the history of this mysterious structure. In summer, by the way, it looks less ominous.

In the Middle Ages, human bones were often buried in chapels. But in Kostnitsa they were not just stored, but were used as building material. The interior is made of bones. The church was built at the monastery in Sedlec, a suburb of the town of Kutna Hora. But the historical beginning of this place happened a little earlier.

At the end of the 13th century, Abbot Henry, who served in the monastery, brought earth from Golgotha ​​from Jerusalem to consecrate this cemetery. The abbot scattered the brought earth on the burial grounds. Thanks to this, the cemetery has become very popular not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Central European countries. Therefore, many wanted to find eternal shelter on this holy land.

Notable dead from the Czech Republic and other European countries were buried on the territory of the cemetery. At the entrance to the cemetery there is a plague column, traditional in European cities.

The country was gripped by a plague epidemic for many years, which claimed the lives of millions of people. Numerous wars and floods further increased the mortality rate. The cemetery quickly expanded its area. The monks decided to free him by eliminating the old graves.

In those days, it was not possible to dispose of the excavated bones, and the remains had to be stored in the basements of the monastery. These basements became burial grounds - ossuaries. After some time, their number increased to 40 thousand.

They tried to free the cemetery territory by reburial several times throughout the entire period. The name of the half-blind monk who deposited the remains remains unknown. It is only known that the monk did not throw the bones into the cellars. He cleaned them with a bleach solution until they turned white. The monk then placed the bleached bones into pyramids.

As a result, two central and four side pyramids, topped with crowns, appeared in the chapel. After the monk died, the pyramids remained untouched, but the chapel was abandoned for more than three hundred years.

For a long time the chapel was not used, and the bones that accumulated were burned. At the end of the 19th century, the noble Prince Schwarzenberg bought the church and its territory. When he saw the bone pyramids in the chapel, he was dissatisfied with their appearance.

The prince decided to reconstruct the chapel premises. A local woodcarver, Frantisek Rint, was invited to do this work. He was given the task of changing the interior in the Gothic style.

The master understood the order in his own way. To decorate the church, he decided to use the bones stored in the chapel. Human remains were cleaned in a chlorine solution and then used to create the unique architectural masterpiece of the Ossuary. All the parts made from bones in the chapel have survived in their original form to this day.

In the Ossuary there is a coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family made of bones.

Hanging under the dome is a giant chandelier made from human remains, which was attached to it with jaws. All the decorations in the temple are made of bones, of which, according to conservative estimates, up to fifty thousand were used.

A large number of skeletons belonged to people who died from the plague. There are also many remains of warriors. The Ossuary displays skulls with holes, which indicate that their former owners probably died during battle from a spear or sword.

Currently, archaeological excavations are being carried out on the territory of the Ossuary. Human remains are still found underground. The bodies of many people were dumped on top of each other in mass graves due to too many deaths. Mountains of corpses accumulated, so it was not possible to perform funeral rituals for each deceased. In addition, not all dead people had families who could take care of their bodies.

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!..