Bohemian Chandelier

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 reinterpret traditional Bohemian crystal chandelier details. Each arm is decorated with vertebrae and metacarpal bones, with hanging pendalogue crystals made from humerus bones. At the end of each arm are candle cups made from a ring of pelvic bones, topped with a skull and candle, and adorned at the tip with a prism made from the end of a femur bone. At the very center of the chandelier, concentric skulls and other various bones make up the bowl of the chandelier. Connecting everything are chains of mandibles, running from the canopy of the chandelier to the tips of each arm.

In 2016, for the first time in 150 years, the ossuary was left without its centerpiece, when the chandelier was taken down for cleaning and reinforcement as part of the ongoing ossuary renovations. The original wooden central column of the chandelier was rotten and unstable due to years of humid conditions in the ossuary. As every bone was carefully documented and removed from the chandelier, a new wooden column was fabricated, and each bone carefully cleaned using Rint's original bleaching methods. The chandelier was then meticulously reassembled back to its original design, in pristine condition as it was on the day it was hung by Rint. In October of 2016, after 6 months of restorations, the chandelier was finally hanging back in the center of the ossuary, to be once again enjoyed by all in its replenished grandiosity & beauty.


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