The Sedlec ossuary

And here I am, after so many years of waiting and yearning, the Sedlec ossuary. It is pretty famous, so there is not much to tell about it, if not that it contains an unprecised number of bones, between 40,000 and 70,000. The church is from the XV Century, built at the center of a preexisting abbey cemetery, large becasue of both the Black Death and the Hussite wars. Bones were already inside, as there was no more rooms in the surrounding lands, but the incredible sculptures that make this place so famous are the work of František Rint, a woodcarver employed by the Schwarzenberg family. Knowing this, let's add nothing else, and just appreciarte this incredible and unique place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the ossuary I still had enough time to see more of the town, so I went to visit the two main churches. First was the impressively named Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist (Kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie a svatého Jana Křtitele), a large church very close to the ossuary. Built in the XIV Century, destroyed in the XV and rebuild in the XVIII.

 

 

 

 

 

From the balcony

After this I went to the Saint Barbara's Church (Chrám svaté Barbory), an impressive gothic cathedral overlooking a small valley. You reach it walking the Barborská, a street running along the front of the XVII Century former Jesuit College and decorated with a row of thirteen baroque statues of saints, an arrangement inspired by the statues on Prague’s Charles Bridge.

 

Alcoves

 

 

 

The ceiling

 

 

 

 

 

 

The inside is also impressive, with beautiful stained glass windowos and wooden alcoves. Saint Barbara is the patron saint of miners, and Kutná Hora owes its fortune to the large silver deposit found in a nearby mountain.

After the church I went back to the hotel, collected my stuff an headed to the station. It was now time to take the train for Prague, despite the medieval festival that was about to happen just outside.