Sedlec Ossuary Project

As soon as you walk through the entrance to Sedlec Kostnice, you immediately feel a stillness in the air. No matter if you have been to other ossuaries before, or if this is the first time you are stepping into one, nothing can prepare you for that first impression, and the anticipation of what you will find below. Looking upward in the entranceway, we see three gothic-style windows that let in the morning sunlight, making this first room very bright and welcoming. In this light, the bone decorations almost seem like normal, unassuming architectural details. Here in this unique ossuary, the human remains are not buried in the typical fashion of a grave site, but rather organically and artistically integrated into the architectural design of this charnel-house. The clean lines of gothic ribbed vaults, and the baroque curves of the balcony, are adorned with decor made up of human bones. Garlands of skulls and femur crossbones, topped with a rosette of pelvic bones, frame the archway an...

“Without darkness there are no dreams” - Karla Kuban Looking back at old photos by local photographer Jindrich Dittrich, taken sometime after 1870, we can see that while major decorations like the chandelier remain the same today, some alterations have been made throughout the existence of the ossuary. For example, the large Schwarzenberg coat of arms made out of bones by Rint, was originally positioned on the archway above the stairs. In another photograph, published in 1926 by Cermak, additional skull altars topped with monstrances are shown under the windows and by the main altar. These photos seem to be the only evidence left of those impressive structures, since they are now long gone. Almost 150 years after Rint decorated the ossuary, it was realized that the entire church was degrading. When the structure above was rebuilt in the Czech baroque style in 1710, the additional weight caused the foundation to start sinking. The vaulted ceilings in the ossuary below were tilting...

Let's now turn back the pages of the history book of Sedlec... In 1142, a Cistercian Monastery was founded in this area. Then, in 1278, Henry, a Cistercian abbot traveled to Jerusalem and brought back soil from Golgotha, of the Holy Land. Word quickly spread, and the requests poured in for people wanting to be buried at the Sedlec cemetery. In 1400, the construction of a progressive gothic style charnel-house, The Cemetery Church of All Saints, began. Curiously, it was not sponsored by the local church or town, but by the Cistercian Order. The Hussite War and Black Plague that followed, filled the cemetery to capacity. Many of the sick and wounded traveled from far away lands to be buried at Sedlec. In 1511, to free up space for burials, legend has it that a half-blind monk started moving bones into an ossuary (or a container or room into which the bones of dead people are placed) in the basement of the church, and arranged them into pyramids/piles. Then from 1703-1710, the c...

Sunrays bounce off metal crosses on top of the church turrets as we walk towards it. But wait, those are not actually crosses - they are skulls & bones! They truly stand out against the bright blue sky, and grab our attention. The same skull and bones motif continues on top of the old walls that surround the property, by way of cement skulls that adorn the massive gate at the entrance to the graveyard and church grounds. These entrance decorations refer back to the history of the cemetary, and to soil brought here from Golgotha, which, in Hebrew means "the place of the skull". But we will get into more of the history later on... Once we're done admiring the wall decorations, we look down and notice the unusual mosaic by the front gate. It is a skull and crossbones set into the sidewalk in white mosaic tile. There is absolutely no doubt now, that we are in the right place! This place is old... Very old. Seemingly, as old as time. But older, even, than the very ...