Czermna, Residential quarter with religious landmark in Kudowa-Zdrój, Poland
Czermna is a residential quarter in Kudowa-Zdrój, a town in southwestern Poland close to the Czech border. It is best known for a small chapel whose interior walls and underground chambers are lined with human bones and skulls.
The chapel was built in the late 18th century by a Czech priest who gathered the remains of people killed by wars and disease in the region. Over several decades, the collection of bones grew steadily and shaped the site as it appears today.
The chapel, known as the Skull Chapel, draws visitors who want to understand how death was once handled in this part of Europe. The bones were not hidden but deliberately displayed, turning the building into a visible memory of past generations.
The chapel sits within the residential quarter and is easy to reach on foot from the town center. Visitors are expected to dress modestly and behave quietly, as the site is still considered a place of worship.
The priest who commissioned the chapel arranged for his own remains to be placed at its center after his death, next to those of his closest collaborators. In this way, the man who created the site became part of it.
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