Sedlec Ossuary- Human bones never looked more beautiful

How many times in your lifetime have you been excited to tour a monument famous for its gallery made with the help of Human bones? Let me present to you the Sedlec Ossuary, A small Roman Catholic Chapel in the Czech republic. For those who do not know an Ossuary is a place where human bones are kept as final burial in places where space is scarce. The Sedlec Ossuary has skeletons of between 40,000 to 70,000 people.

The Chapel become a famous burial ground before the black deaths in the 14th century. In 1870, Frantisek Rint, a woodcarver, was employed by the Schwarzenberg family to put the bone heaps into order. The macabre result of his effort speaks for itself. Four enormous bell-shaped mounds occupy the corners of the chapel. An enormous chandelier of bones, which contains at least one of every bone in the human body, hangs from the center of the nave with garlands of skulls draping the vault. Other works include piers and monstrances flanking the altar, a large Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms, and the signature of Rint, also executed in bone, on the wall near the entrance. He even used the bones to spell out his name on the right-hand wall at the bottom of the stairs. Even so, that's a lot of bones and so he can be forgiven for having a few left over; in fact he had an awful lot left over, which he arranged into four large pyramids of bones, one of which you can see behind the coat of arms.

Apart from the church Kutna Hora also has some nice architecture depicting the time of the Black death in Europe when half the population on the continent was wiped out. Also do not miss the gothic Cathedral of  St. Barbara. The organ at the cathedral itself is a work of art.

Directions:
By road- 1 hour drive from Prague. (70kms)
By air- N/A
By Water- N/A
By rail- 1 hour (70 kms)

Days required- 6-8 hours including the Sedlec Ossuary, Cathedral of St. Barbara, Wallachian court and a gothic fountain around town.
Stay- Affordable hotels available in Prague.

Excitement level 6/10- Most people will be less excited and more disturbed after looking at this monument. Carry paper bags as somebody in your group is bound to throw up.

Beauty level- 9/10- Mr. Frantisek Rint definitely knew what he was upto and the beauty definitely shows.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_Church
*http://www.richard-seaman.com/Travel/CzechRepublic/Highlights/index.html