Sedlec Ossuary Project

  💀 ☩ 💀 ☩ 💀 ☩ 💀 ☩ 💀 ☩ 💀 This is the moment you've been waiting for! Our Kickstarter is now live, so go check it out! sedlecossuary.mechanicalwhispers.com We've got a special early bird deal on the book for first day backers. And also some really cool rewards! But some special rewards are limited, so be sure to check them out early. We're very excited about this campaign, and will do everything we can to make it successful. Our Kickstarter will be ending on Halloween night at midnight, so you still have time to tell everyone you know about it, and increase the chances of reaching our goal and the book getting published. And it'll be a Halloween celebration like no other! Thank you for your time and support! ☩💀 The Sedlec Ossuary Project (Robert and Nadia) 💀☩ Please stay tuned, and share this with your friends, follow us on Instagram , Reddit , and Facebook , and get inspired! 💀 ☩ 💀 ☩ 💀 ☩ 💀 ☩ 💀 ☩ 💀      Foll...

In celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Sedlec Ossuary bone church located in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic , we are announcing a commemorative, historic, art book we are publishing, with the assistance of the Sedlec Ossuary Director, and the Sedlec Roman Catholic Parish of Kutná Hora, to celebrate this milestone occasion, that will tell a visual story of the ossuary from the past, present, and future This UNESCO World Heritage site was decorated with the bones of over 40,000 humans 150 years ago, in a stunning artistic display that isn't replicated in any ossuary or catacomb in the world. Notable features include large chalices made of human bones that stand over 5 feet tall, and a centerpiece chandelier, over 8 feet in diameter, containing every bone in the human body. The Sedlec Ossuary is also currently undergoing extensive renovations to help preserve it for future generations to enjoy. We will be launching our Kickstarter for the book project on October 1st, and we hop...

As the physical on-site renovations of the Sedlec Ossuary continue, we are also diving deeper into our own photos from Sedlec in order to digitally reconstruct various decorative elements in 3D, using the latest photoscanning technology. We have been able to virtually piece together Rint's designs, bone by bone. The first object we tackled was the iconic chalice in the entranceway to Sedlec. This wasn't easy, since the actual bone chalice resides inside an exedra, or semicircular recess, and could not be removed or photographed from the back. The next object we digitally recreated was the monstrance from the altar, also set back into it's own arched niche. And now we have just completed the chandelier centerpiece of the ossuary. Future plans include recreating the column of skulls, and the Schwarzenberg coat of arms. Part of the fun of recreating these objects from our photos has been to count the bones, and place them exactly as Rint had done. It has been akin to an elab...

Happy summer!!! We've been very, very busy over here lately at the Sedlec Ossuary Project. As you may know, we have made some of our photography available as luster and metallic art prints here , in response to all the requests we have gotten from our followers. These, of course, are professionally shot, high quality photographs, taken with permission from the Roman Catholic Parish of Kutna Hora. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these prints will be donated to the Roman Catholic Parish of Kutná Hora-Sedlec, for the restoration efforts and preservation of the future of the Sedlec Ossuary. Thanks to all the encouragement we have gotten about compiling our Sedlec photos, we are in the very early stages of laying out a book design of our photography, artwork, and stories inspired by Sedlec. We wanted to share this news with you, and will be posting a teaser mock-up of the book on our Instagram . Head over there and let us know what you think! We are also experimenting with ...

As we were regrettably reminded recently with Notre Dame, historic structures, or even parts of them, can be here one day and gone the next. Thankfully, we live in a time where digital technology allows us to preserve them through photographs, video, and even 3D scanning. Collecting this type of data on our historical structures is so important, and has been a crucial aid to those working to rebuild the parts of Notre Dame that were lost to fire. 3D scanning is currently being used at Sedlec to capture the current state of the entire ossuary, before cleaning and restructuring, to help restorers reassemble the pieces as close to their original arrangement as possible. Back in 2016, when we first heard about the beginning stages of the restorations at Sedlec, we approached the Roman Catholic Parish of Kutna Hora-Sedlec for permission to use non-invasive photogrammetry 3D scanning to assist in collecting and preserving this data about the ossuary. Photogrammetry is essentially the proce...

For those of you who have followed our journey since the beginning, thank you so much for your support! For those who have recently joined us along the way, welcome to this adventure. Please allow us to introduce ourselves, as we continue with our passionate drive to show you the secrets and inspirations of this incredible place. Robert ( @Mechanical_Whispers_Art ) is a visionary artist, photographer, and motion graphics & 3D developer. Nadia ( @VodaZNY ) is a storyteller, photographer, designer, and architect. We are driven by our love of ancient artifacts, buildings, and landscapes, and all the stories they hold. We dreamt up this idea to preserve the history of the Sedlec Ossuary through our photography, artwork, writings, and beyond. This is a story of Sedlec Ossuary, in our words and through our eyes, past, present, and future. We are so very grateful for all of you who been enjoying & following it. And we hope it continues to grow as more people get inspired and share o...

Our story so far has brought you all way from the grand entrance of the ossuary, with its intricate chalices & garlands, down the staircase, and around the main room to admire the oldest relics of Sedlec, the bone pyramids compiled by the blind monk. Continuing on, to learn the history of the Schwarzenberg’s coat of arms made of bones, and then over to the altar with its terrifyingly beautiful monstrances. And finally ending up in the center of the room, to stand between the four marbled columns of skulls, and stone crypt in the floor. And now, above you, is Rint's most striking creation in the Bone Church - the magnificent chandelier. This impressive centerpiece is made from thousands of bones, and consists of at least one of every bone in the human body. The chandelier stands 2.6 meters tall and 2.25 meters in diameter, with eight arms arching gracefully from its main suspended column. But of course, in place of traditional ornate materials, bones are used, meticulously, to r...