Saturday, April 12, 2014

Hauntings: Kutna Hora's 'Bone' Church, Sedlec Ossuary


Kutna Hora's 'Bone' church, Sedlec Ossuary (Czech Republic)

In Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic, there’s a bone church (also known as an ossuary), built in 1400.  When skeletons were removed from the ground to make room for new burials, the bones were put in the ossuary under the church. 

 The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people. 

 In 1870, František Rint, a woodcarver, was employed to put the bone heaps into order. He took it upon himself to arrange the bones artistically to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel. 


The chandelier of bones (in the picture at the very top) contains at least one of every bone in the human body.





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55 comments:

Andrew Leon said...

That's so cool! I want to go there!

Anonymous said...

Decorating with bones. It works. Creepy cool. I'd love to see it in person.

Anonymous said...

This is chilling. I don't know if I could go there.

Sophie Duncan said...

Oh wow, I admire the man's dedication, but that decor gives me the chills.
Sophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles - A to Z Ghosts
Fantasy Boys XXX - A to Z Drabblerotic

Steven said...

That is incredibly morbid, in a cool sort of way. I don't think I could spend the night there, though...

Jocelyn Rish said...

Oh. My. God. I am simultaneously horrified and utterly fascinated. What creepy beauty. I totally want to go there now!

Little Gothic Horrors said...

Very macabre, but also amazingly beautiful!

Rachna Chhabria said...

That's such an artistic arrangement of bones. I want to go there now.

Melancholy and Menace said...

Everything looks beautiful and wonderfully creepy.
My daughter visited a crypt in Italy a couple of years ago and brought home a few postcards of the spectacular displays there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_della_Concezione_dei_Cappuccini

JeffO said...

Freaky.

I imagine that sort of thing would not be commissioned today.

Sean @ His And Her Hobbies said...

This place is fascinating. I heard about this place the other day but I can't remember where.

Sean at His and Her Hobbies

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I'd have a real difficult time connecting to God in a church like that. Too creepy.

Rhonda Albom said...

That is so much bigger than the ossuary I went to in Portugal. It might be a bit creepier too. Thanks for sharing these photos. I wish I had gone here when I was in the Czech Republic.

Cathrina Constantine said...

My daughter ventured into the bone church in her travels. Awesome and creepy.

Rosie Amber said...

Fascinating! And I agree a bit creepy. I have given your blog a shout out from my letter K today http://rosieamber.wordpress.com/

Robin said...

In Rome there is a bone place kinda like this. My memory is not great but it seems like they were the remains of Franciscan monks. Anyway, someone made most of them into art, although some of the skeletons remain completely intact. I went and visited this creepy place and left... feeling creepy. Even so, some of the designs were lovely and it was a bit hard to reconcile that they were human bones. Lovely and bones don't go together for me.

Kimberly said...

Oh, wow. This is interesting and creepy and I wondered what kind of person it takes to work with all those bones like that.

Bish Denham said...

It's beautiful and I think a lovely way to honor those dead. It doesn't creep me out at all and would be a place I'd like to visit.

messymimi said...

Weird and fascinating at the same time.

stephen Hayes said...

Very cool, and kinda creepy. But I'd definitely visit here.

cleemckenzie said...

I just read a book that had a ossuary with an artistic touch-- several macabre scenes in one, actually. Creeped me out as much as it did the characters, so the writer did a great job.

Luanne G. Smith said...

They do that with the bones in my novel too. Too many of them lying around on the ground. :)

DMS said...

I have never heard of this before! I am amazed at the way the bones were put together into artistic decorations. I am still stunned by all those bones. :) Thanks for sharing!
Jess

Unknown said...

Wow, what an amazing and unusual building! Good luck with the rest of the A to Z challenge.

Emma

Unknown said...

Never heard of this before. This one threw me for a loop.

Unknown said...

Morbid and fascinating and oddly beautiful to look at...

Jennifer Hawes said...

It feels like this place should be in an Indiana Jones movie. Unbelievably weird!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos. Yes my stand up comedian who is "out" as a vampire is pretty amusing if I do say so myself :D thanks for commenting on Rosie's post

Unknown said...

I soooo wanna go there!

MunirGhiasuddin said...

This one gave me goosebumps and chills. Is this place for real? for sure?

Cathy Keaton said...

I've never heard of anything like this! So interesting. It's weird to have the bones of long dead people out on display like this, but also makes me feel like these people and the past itself are closer somehow.

Al Diaz said...

Morbidly fascinating. I don't think I would feel like praying there much but I would visit like to a museum.

Kate Larkindale said...

That's an amazing looking building....

Unknown said...

wow, really cool ...

Gothic Flamingo said...

I am mesmerised by this, it's so morbid and darkly beautiful. I must go there and admire it in person.

Unknown said...

A great post, Lexa, and incredible pictures! Thank you, I enjoyed reading it.

Jean Katherine Baldridge said...

Magnificent. I have always loved this place. jean

Anonymous said...

These posts are fantastic! Great pics too. I'm suggesting that my teens read your book, Soul Cutter, too, as it sounds quite intriguing (I want to read it really, and am using the teens as an excuse! Lol.) I'm really glad you called over to my blog, I may not have stumbled by this otherwise :)

Anonymous said...

Great post and pictures. Fascinating with a touch of the shivers. Love it.

Anonymous said...

Holy cow... Artistic and disturbing. I think I'll go with cremation.

Alex Hurst said...

That is a seriously scary church!!! Thanks for all the pictures (even though they might give me nightmares, haha)... sorry I've not been around to comment for a while!

Alex Hurst, fantasy author in Japan, participating in Blogging A-Z April Challenge.

Lisa Mandina said...

I love your theme! I'll have to go back and check them all out. I do like ghost stories. And have even gone to supposedly haunted hotels/houses to see if I could experience anything. Great post. I plan to follow you back on GFC once I can get it to let me do that.

Veronica Sicoe said...

I heard of this church before. I hope I'll visit it some day!

SK Anthony said...

Awww how sweet...NO!
I read about it on another blog during the challenge (Rhonda's) and my thoughts are the same...if I go there I'm afraid they'll be checking out my bones to see if I should join them. :P

GSMarlene said...

I do like ghost stories. And I'd love to visit this place. Very unique.
Marlene at On Writing and Riding

Anonymous said...

I think if I wrote something like this in a fictional story, no one would believe it! This is chilling and tragic and darkly beautiful all at once. I would visit, but I know it would haunt me for a long time afterwards!

Anonymous said...

What amazing photographs. The posting was informative and intriguing. You have motivated me to put it on a travel list.

Anonymous said...

Oh.My.Gawd. This whole post just gave me the shudders!!!!!

Crystal Collier said...

That's just wrong. Amazing, but wrong. I can't believe this place actually exists.

Inger said...

I saw your eye avatar on several blogs and became curious. And I'm so glad I decided to stop by. This is just fascinating and I had no idea this existed. I will definitely be back.

Unknown said...

Wow... I don't even know what to say with this one... other than WOW! I could never enter a place like that. There would be so much energy fuming from the bones that I wouldn't know what to do with myself! Interesting though... creepy but very interesting.

Unknown said...

Wow! My visual senses are all on overload, but in a good way.

2 Smart Wenchest

Unknown said...

František Rint must've been one sick fella, don't you think? To think, oh! I should totally make art out of someone's dead bones. That's not disrespectful at all.

Though, it is pretty cool. I'd like to see this place, though I think it'd creepy me out so much.

Annie Neugebauer said...

I've reblogged pictures of this place on tumblr countless times! It's neat to hear a bit more about it. :)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Lexa .. I missed this - not surprising with so many blogs to get round .. but now reading about it via the A-Z theme follow-up posts .. fascinating place ...

Incredible creativity - thanks I didn't know about this ... cheers Hilary

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