Modern Restoration
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, and due to high humidity, the stucco walls and even the very bones in the ossuary were deteriorating. When Rint originally created the chandelier, he mounted the bones to a wood & steel structure, not realizing that combining those two materials has a negative reaction in humid environments. The chandelier was becoming dangerously unstable over time.
In 2014, a decision was made to start long-term renovations on the entire premises. The first phase of this renovation project would be to repair the exteriors of the building, and the chandelier itself. During the 2014-2016 renovations of the exterior terraces and walls around the ground level, excavations revealed many additional previously unknown burial sites on the property. Nine sets of remains were found under the main ossuary floor. Four large mass graves were found around the building perimeter, possibly a result of the Black plague. And a children's grave site, commonly referred to as the “cemetery for non-baptized ones”, was found under one corner of the building. This grave site was positioned so that rainwater from the roof of the church would pour onto the graves, and symbolically perform an endless baptism onto the remains of the children.
In 2016, for the first time since Rint installed it, the Sedlec Ossuary stood without its iconic chandelier. The chandelier was removed, dismantled, meticulously cleaned and petrified using a limewater bath process, and then carefully reassembled again with a new steel support structure. At the end of 2016, it returned to its home at the center of the ossuary, and was reinstalled with new wooden ceiling supports. The renovations are ongoing, yet the ossuary remains open during this time.
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