Sedlec Ossuary, Gothic chapel and ossuary in Sedlec, Kutná Hora, Czech Republic
The Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic chapel beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora. Its lower chapel holds the bones of roughly 40,000 people, worked into four bell-shaped mounds at the corners, a bone chandelier hanging over the nave, and garlands of skulls along the vault. Above stands a Gothic church with a light brown stone facade, two slender towers with dark spires and crosses, tall pointed-arch windows and a large pointed-arch portal.
In 1278 the Cistercian abbot Henry brought earth from Golgotha and scattered it over the Sedlec cemetery, which then drew burials from across Central Europe. A Gothic church with a lower ossuary chapel was built around 1400; Jan Santini Aichel added a new entrance and rebuilt the upper level between 1703 and 1710. In 1870 the Schwarzenberg family hired woodcarver František Rint to order the bones.
The name comes from the nearby Sedlec monastery, whose cemetery became famous after an abbot brought blessed soil from the Holy Land. Visitors today see elaborate figures and symbols formed from human bones, a reminder of the Christian belief in the transience of the body.
Visitors can reach the chapel by train from Prague to Kutná Hora in about an hour, from where the ossuary is walkable. Tickets are available at the information center on site, and the rooms are small, so visiting outside peak times helps avoid crowds.
The Schwarzenberg family coat of arms in the chapel is made entirely from human bones and shows a raven pecking out the eye of a Turkish warrior. This elaborate display was created during the 19th-century rearrangement and stands out for its detailed craftsmanship.
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