Ossuary
On Saturday, Denise, Tom, Joe, and I went on an excursion to Kutna Hora. But first, a little history.
The Czech Republic is pretty much in the middle of Europe, so Prague has been said to be the heart of the continent. Since Prague is located in such a strategic location, it was a thriving marketplace in Medieval times. Also, the fact that it's located on a river (the Vltava River) helps. Because a lot of commerce took place on the rivers before there were highways, all cities located on rivers tended to be rich cities.
Bohemia was settled in the 5th century by Slavs that came from the southeast. The leader of the Slavs was "Old Father Czech", according to our tour guide, Martina. So the name of the country came from him.
Okay, enough history. On our way to the town of Kutna Hora, we stopped at an Ossuary in Sedlac, which is a suburb of Kutna Hora. This Ossuary is one of the strangest things I have ever seen.
Some background: In 1278, the King of Bohemia sent the abbot of the nearby monastery to Jerusalem. When the abbot returned, he brought back some soil from Golgotha - which was called "Holy Soil" for obvious reasons. Because this soil was placed in the Sedlac cemetery, many people wanted to be buried there. Soon the cemetery had to be enlarged.
In the 15th century, a gothic church was built near the cemetery. Since it didn't take long for the cemetery to be too small again to accommodate all who wished to be interred there, they began to use the basement of the church as an Ossuary.
In 1870, someone was hired to organize the collection of bones. The result was that he took the bones and decorated the church with them. Many of the bones were from monks and nuns, as at that time, the monastery was thriving and there were hundreds of religious there.
There are over 40,000 bones that were used in the decoration of the chapel. Two of the more interesting things in the chapel were a chandelier made of bones, including at least one of every bone in the body, and a coat of arms.
The Czech Republic is pretty much in the middle of Europe, so Prague has been said to be the heart of the continent. Since Prague is located in such a strategic location, it was a thriving marketplace in Medieval times. Also, the fact that it's located on a river (the Vltava River) helps. Because a lot of commerce took place on the rivers before there were highways, all cities located on rivers tended to be rich cities.
Bohemia was settled in the 5th century by Slavs that came from the southeast. The leader of the Slavs was "Old Father Czech", according to our tour guide, Martina. So the name of the country came from him.
Okay, enough history. On our way to the town of Kutna Hora, we stopped at an Ossuary in Sedlac, which is a suburb of Kutna Hora. This Ossuary is one of the strangest things I have ever seen.
Some background: In 1278, the King of Bohemia sent the abbot of the nearby monastery to Jerusalem. When the abbot returned, he brought back some soil from Golgotha - which was called "Holy Soil" for obvious reasons. Because this soil was placed in the Sedlac cemetery, many people wanted to be buried there. Soon the cemetery had to be enlarged.
In the 15th century, a gothic church was built near the cemetery. Since it didn't take long for the cemetery to be too small again to accommodate all who wished to be interred there, they began to use the basement of the church as an Ossuary.
In 1870, someone was hired to organize the collection of bones. The result was that he took the bones and decorated the church with them. Many of the bones were from monks and nuns, as at that time, the monastery was thriving and there were hundreds of religious there.
There are over 40,000 bones that were used in the decoration of the chapel. Two of the more interesting things in the chapel were a chandelier made of bones, including at least one of every bone in the body, and a coat of arms.
The rest of the things we saw were just too incredible to describe. I've never seen anything like it. I'll just have to let the pictures tell the story.
Comments
Post a Comment