Beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints lies the Sedlec Ossuary. It’s a Roman Catholic chapel. More than 40000 people rest here. Their bones form the breathtaking decorations.
Imagine the 13th century. Abbot Henry returned from Jerusalem. He brought soil from Golgotha. He scattered it across Sedlec’s cemetery. The cemetery became a sacred burial place. People travelled from across Central Europe. They wanted to be buried in consecrated ground.
The Black Death struck. Thousands died. The Hussite Wars followed. More bodies piled up. The cemetery overflowed. An ossuary was built. It became a repository for the excess bones.
In 1870 the Schwarzenberg family hired Frantisek Rint. Rint was a woodcarver. He arranged the bones artistically. He created a masterpiece. His work includes a bone chandelier. It contains almost every human bone. There’s a Schwarzenberg coat of arms too. It’s made entirely of bone. He even signed his work in bone. It’s near the entrance. The ossuary is truly unique. There are also six pyramidal mounds. There are bone monstrances flanking the altar. Rint bleached the bones for a uniform look.
Today the Sedlec Ossuary is a major tourist attraction. It receives about 200000 visitors annually. The ossuary is a reminder of mortality. It is a testament to human ingenuity. The Sedlec Ossuary is a place of eerie beauty. It’s a place to contemplate life’s fleeting nature. It stands as a marvel of human creation. It continues to fascinate and amaze visitors from around the world. The Sedlec Ossuary. A place unlike any other.