A small city of Czech Republic with a population of approx. 21000, just a day trip from Prague, also known as the sleepy town of the Bohemia. It's an untouched, quiet and a peaceful town with not alot to offer but interesting enough to pay a visit. I was astonished to know about the history of the town, it was once the second richest city of the kingdom because of the presence of a large number of silver mines and also had the mint where the metal was converted into coins, making Kutna Hora compete with Prague, economically and politically. Built in 1142, yes older than you and me, or your parents or even grandparents ! Walking in this peaceful city was quick, it lasted just a few hours but definitely won my heart because of it's beautiful architecture, the beautiful and epic cathedrals and the history behind the Bone Chapel.
St. Barbara's church is one of the most famous Gothic churches of Central Europe and is also a UNESCO's World Heritage site. St. Barbara was the patron saint of the miners of Kutna Hora and hence the church has various depictions of the miners and the mining life. I found the church to be magnificent inside , out.
Interiors of St Barbara's Church
Ceiling of the church Coming to the my main reason of going to Kutna Hora, the Bone Chapel Yes, you read it right, bone chapel. There are 9 in Europe and one of the legendary ones is here with not so creepy history behind, rather it was tragic. The Bone Chapel or the Sedlec Ossuary has bones of almost 40,000 to 70,000 skeletons arranged in the form of decorations. It is believed that in 1278, father of a church in Sedlec was sent to the Holy Land and he got some earth from there and spread it in the cemetery, soon the place became the ideal burial ground for people in Central Europe. Soon , in the 14th century Black Plague and Bohemian wars led to a large number of deaths. They were facing issues with the space in the cemetery and hence the order of using the bones and stacking them up was given to a half-blind monk. The church was built int he center of the cemetery in Gothic architecture.The church was indeed creepy but so fascinating. I was dumbstruck to see chandeliers of skulls and bones hanging from the ceiling, angels made with the bones, I was in admiration and also in shock. I admired the thought of the creator and yet it felt too overwhelming to be walking around all the skulls and bones.
Sedlec Ossuary Sedlec Ossuary was the highlight of my trip to Kutna Hora and it being hardly 1 hour drive away from Prague was worth. While we were visiting the Ossuary, the restoration process was on and the guide had mentioned that they had found mass executed graves under the church, so just imagine the amount of bones the area would have had! After listening to this piece of information from the guide, I froze, it felt like walking in a scary movie with an unimaginable amount of suspense. Dramatic! I know , I am quite a dramatic person ???? But this trip was one of a kind, where there were no rosy scenes of beautiful castles, nor a wonderful sunset or a stone bridge but it was more like watch the show Walking dead.
Chandelier made of bones, Sedlec Ossuary
Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms made with bones
