Just an hour’s train ride from Prague, you will find the charming medieval city of Kutná Hora. Here, impressive buildings like St. Barbara’s Church – with its grand flying buttresses and twisting spires – and the magnificent Jesuit College.
But the most interesting attraction for those seeking a darker type of tourism lies in a rather unexpected place.
In the Czech Republic city’s northwestern suburbs, there’s a typical-looking Gothic church. Strolling by on a quiet day, you probably wouldn’t guess what lies beneath: an underground chapel decorated with 40,000 to 70,000 human skeletons.
The church itself was built around 1400, but the history of the Sedlec Ossuary dates back even further – to 1278.
According to legend, in the 13th century, a local monk spread soil from Jerusalem over the church’s cemetery plot, making it a popular burial spot. It is thought that the Black Death and the Crusades alone brought 40,000 corpses to Kutná Hora.
However, when construction on the church began in the 1400s, many of the remains were dug up and stacked in the ossuary – a room for bones – below. They stayed there until the 19th century when a local artisan, František Rint, was commissioned to do something with them.
After bleaching and carving the bones, Rint arranged them into fascinating patterns.
Chains of skulls hang from the ceilings like bunting, femurs are stacked along the walls and four bell-shaped mounds occupy the chapel’s corners. The crest of the Schwarzenberg family, who funded the project, is even depicted.
But the main attraction is the chandelier which hangs from the centre of the nave, which features every bone in the human body.
Reminiscent of the Paris or Rome Catacombs, around 200,000 people visit Sedlec Ossuary every year.
The chapel has featured many times in the media, including the documentary Long Way Round, featuring Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, as a location for the Dungeons & Dragons movie and as a major plot device in the John Connolly novel, The Black Angel.
You can get the train from Prague Central Station to Kutna Hora in just 50 minutes, with regular journeys throughout the day.
If you are looking for an organised trip, there are also guided tours from Prague to Sedlec. You can book a full day trip to Kutna Hora from the capital, combine it with a visit to a brewery or even include a three-course lunch during your tour.
However you decide to visit Sedlec Ossuary, it should definitely be on your list when planning your Prague itinerary.
