Chapel X

double dare you....

The Chapel

PHotos by  Der Krampus

Taken Back

The Bone Church: Sedlec Ossuary, Kutná Hora

 I realize my posts have been taking a turn for the macabre of late... I guess I'm just gearing up for halloween, so bear with me and be warned, there is more to come!

 This treasure located south of Kutná Hora, Czech Republic appears to be a relatively nondescript Gothic Roman Catholic chapel from the outside. When the structure was being built, a huge cemetery filled with tens of thousands of skeletons was unearthed. The skeletal remains were stacked up dutifully in the chapel for centuries. 

That is, until the 19th century, when a woodcarver, František Rint, was tasked with straightening up the piles of bones by the Schwarzenberg family. And what a job he did, festooning the church with garlands of skulls, a coat of arms made entirely of bones, a chandelier using every bone in the human body, a bony Jesus on the cross … It’s haunting, macabre and grotesque.  

Between 40,000 and 70,000 deceased members of the clergy reside here dating back to 1278 when Sedlec became known as a particularly desirable burial site, after the ground was consecrated with dirt taken from Calvary, the site of Jesus' crucifixion. 

Among the bones are countless victims of the Black Death, who flooded the cemetery in the mid 14th century. I have yet to see this stunning chapel in person but I hope to travel there some time within the next year. Here are some photos inside Sedlec Ossuary.

Do You Not Know?

 "Do you not know that we will judge angels? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?"

Mount Rose Cemetery

This remarkable Victorian cemetery rests inside steep hills and valleys created by glaciers during the ice age. It was built in 1837 to alleviate overcrowding in the smaller local cemeteries, and to provide a more remote location for bodies that were infected with contagious diseases such as smallpox and cholera. The site was chosen for its beauty even though the terrain and drainage were expensive issues. Rare and unusual trees were donated by a local nursery, creating a quiet park that was visited by many, and still is to this day. The cemetery holds a great amount of funerary art decorating its vast numbers of monuments and mausoleums.

A Gothic chapel was built in 1863, with a large ornamental fountain placed in front in 1875. A crematorium was added to the chapel in 1912. This chapel and crematory were replaced with two newer structures on the property, one being the chapel with receiving vault and the other being the new crematory and main office. Both the old and new chapels have fell into disuse over the years, but the cemetery is still maintained and many interments still occur in the newer sections. It is now the final resting place to 1/3rd of a million people.

* Note: the name "Mount Rose Cemetery" is a pseudonym; the real name of this location is currently undisclosed.

shaft used to raise coffins up into church during service.

All Photo © www.opacity.us