21.06.2019
Kutná Hora, Czech Republic (24 of 30)
In a once prosperous silver mining town stands the first Cistercian monastery built in Bohemia located in the suburb of Sedlec. During the 13th century, the father of the Sedlec Abbey monastery was appointed by the King for a quest to the Holy Land. He brought back dirt from where Jesus was crucified which he scattered throughout the cemetery of the monastery where soon the Cemetery Church of All Saints was built. Since many graves were unearthed during construction, the bones were put to use in an ossuary below the church. One monk alone used the bones from 80,000 skeletons to construct formations decoratively within Sedlec Ossuary known as the “Bone Church.”
Sedlec Ossuary was the most anticipated architectural feat I sought to see on my trip to the Czech Republic. Upon entrance, I was greeted with endless stacks and arrangements on the floor, walls, and ceiling. Everything was made from skeletons. Pyramids towered in each corner of the ossuary showcasing a method of positioning similar to the Catacombs in Paris. In the center of the chapel hangs an elaborate chandelier composed of hundreds of bones fixed together intricately in patterns. It contains at least one of every bone in the human body. Beside the alter monstrances made of bones with a skull placed in the center contrast the typical golden vessels used during Catholic Adoration. The ossuary appears to give off a ghastly sense, but in the 13th century, the skeletons were widely seen as mere relics of the past. Sedlec Ossuary conveys the dreadful message that life is a cycle that ends with inevitable death, but that it is just another phase in our existence.
Life is in motion 