Plague Column
Restoration work in the Church of the Ascension of the Virgin
Ossuary Chapel of All Saints
 
Going down into the chapel
Chandelier and altar
Close-up on a bone pyramid
Schwarzenberg family coat of arms
 
Contrasts of an angel statue
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Walking back into town, I enjoy some more typical features of Czech towns, such as a large stone fountain, the former Church of St John of Nepomuk, or a plague column, built in 1715 after a bad spell of the Black Death hit the city. I am now heading 2 kilometres northeast, towards the suburb of Sedlec, where the amazing Ossuary Chapel of All Saints lies. I reach it surprisingly easily, and first have a look at the restoration work being conducted in the neighbouring Church of the Ascension of the Virgin. Both of these sites are also protected by the UNESCO, so it is not surprising to see all the scaffolding. What draws the crowds though, and what I have been hearing about, is the stunning display that has been put together in the late nineteenth century, with the bones of some 40,000 people who had been buried there. Indeed, a 13th-century abbot returned with earth from Jerusalem, to this site, so many people were buried here, and there was gradually too little space. An anonymous woodcarver designed a unique chapel as a tribute to life after death, and to the rich Schwarzenberg family who bought this monastery, and were the dominating family of most of the Czech region until the Second World War. As I enter the underground chapel, I am greeted by more skulls and bones than one would normally bear to look at, but the elaborate motifs and the originality of the place often take over the individual focus on all the lives and deaths there are behind each single piece. With a very creative mind, Rint has created chalices, garlands and a chandelier made with all the bones in the human body. The ceilings are covered in successions of skulls and tibias, while four massive pyramids of bones and skulls are set in each corner of the room. A striking display is the Schwarzenberg family coat of arms, especially the rendering of the famous pecking at a dead Turk's head. I am breathing quietly, somewhat overwhelmed by the overall creation and its meaning, by all the death around me, somewhat concealed by the artistic and religious significance. This is a place I felt I had to see, yet it leaves me uncomfortable, as the intent is not certain, and some features such as a rococo angel with a skull on his lap seem to be a step too far perhaps. In any case, there is truly nothing like this ossuary, and I can understand its place in our world heritage.
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Kutna Hora 