Kutna Hora and the Sedlec Bone Church

Do you know what an "ossuary" is? We wouldn't have known, but after visiting one, we know now! An ossuary is a place where skeletal human remains are stored, usually to conserve space. The village of Sedlec near the town of Kutna Hora has one such ossuary. And it is strange indeed!

We are walking distance to "the bone church" as it is called. On the way there, we stopped at the tourist info for a map and other info. We ended up buying a tourist pass, which is a collection of local attractions packaged together so that you save a little money. The cost of the "silver key" was 250 korunas ($12.50) each.

Then it was a short walk down to the church. As soon as you enter the reception area you get a glimpse of what you're in for.

Human bones, decorating the church.

Human bones built into self supporting pyramids.

The story is that there are the bones of 40,000 people here. There was originally a very large cemetery back in the 1300's, that was enlarged due to plagues and wars between 1300 and 1500. In the 1400's, the church was built and the human remains were transferred to the basement of the church. In the 1800's, the bones were put in their current arrangement by a talented Czech woodcarver.

This huge working chandelier is made up of every bone in the human body.

The coat of arms (literally!) of the noble family.

Very strange, but the guy was definitely talented!

The "bone church", officially known as The Cemetery Church of All Saints.

Next, we walked the two kms or so into Kutna Hora. The bone church was fairly busy with tourists who come from Prague, but many of them see the bone church and then head back. Kutna Hora actually has a fair bit to offer, and it's a kind of a pretty little town as well. Included in our pass was a small museum called Tyl House. We wouldn't normally have gone, even though the entry fee is only 10 korunas (50 cents). They had a couple of interesting things, but it was all in Czech so we didn't get a good understanding of some of the items.

People sure were short back in the day!

So we just wandered around town for a while after that. It was hot...about 32C (89F) so we stayed in the shade as much as possible. I sure was getting thirsty. But that problem would be resolved soon!

Lots of nice narrow streets to wander around.

And more.

The cathedral in Kutna Hora is supposed to be amazing. We will visit there today!

A pretty place to visit!

So we're wandering back through the central area, and I'm thinking about sitting down at one of the pubs for a nice cold beer. We notice a little bit of something going on, and so we go to get a closer look. It turns out that a van has pulled up and has set up a keg of beer and a bar and some photo equipment, and they are promoting their brand of beer. How do they promote beer in Czech Republic? Well they give it away for free, of course!!

Giving away free beer.

After they give you your free beer, they take your photo and print it off for you! This is a picture of the picture. I like Krusovice beer!

It was another good day! We bought some supplies for supper and we made a sausage stir fry of sorts. It was good. We've just paid for two more nights here, so we're not heading out to Svitavy until Sunday morning.