Sedlec Ossuary (Kostnice Sedlec)

The Sedlec Ossuary — known as the "Bone Church" — is a small Gothic chapel beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints, whose interior is decorated entirely with the remains of approximately 40,000 people. The story begins in 1278, when the abbot of the Sedlec Cistercian monastery returned from Jerusalem with soil said to be from Golgotha and scattered it over the cemetery, making it one of the most sought-after burial sites in Central Europe. After the Black Death and Hussite Wars added thousands more burials, exhumed bones were stacked in the crypt. In the 1870s, woodcarver František Rint was commissioned to arrange the bones artistically: the result is a chandelier incorporating every bone in the human body, garlands of skulls and femurs strung across the vaulted ceiling, four pyramidal bone heaps in the corners, and the Schwarzenberg coat of arms rendered in bones. The ossuary is part of the Kutná Hora UNESCO World Heritage Site and is best combined with a visit to St. Barbara's Cathedral in the town centre. Allow half a day for the full trip from Prague.