Dem Bones, Dem Bones...

Kutná Hora

A city 43 miles east of Prague, is home to a “Bone Church,” or Church of All Saints.  Why is it called a bone church you may ask?  Well, it has been meticulously decorated for hundreds of years with human skeletal bones.  Seriously!  I think Kent (my father-in-law) would have loved this place! 

It all began in the 13th century when a monk returned from a visit to Palestine with a pocketful of soil and sprinkled it on the ground and cemetery around this church.  This direct association with the holy land led to the graveyard becoming a sought after burial site among the aristocracy of Central Europe. At the time of the thirty years’ war in the 17th century, the number of burials outgrew the space available, the older remains began to be exhumed and stored in the chapel, and it’s estimated that the chapel now contains the bones of up to 40,000 people. 

Is it even appropriate to ask you kids to pose with real human bones?  William was a bit uncertain and wanted to finish our tour as quickly as possible. (I think he was a bit freaked out, but then again I was too!)

 Urban myth has it that a monk went mad and made things from the bones, and there are stories to suggest that partially blind monks entrusted with the care of the chapel were the first to begin piling the bones into geometric shapes.

 Ellie:        I thought this was especially cool, since I had just learned about it in history.  The only thing I did not like was the smell! 

The decorations and sculptures were created by a woodcarver named František Rint. In 1870, he was commissioned by the landowners of the time, the Schwarzenberg family, to decorate the chapel with the bones and create a reminder of the impermanence of human life and inescapable death.  He also created a coat of arms for the family which is pictured above.

Our last picture in Prague, the kids standing on the staircase of our apartment.  Yes, we are on the top (4^th) floor.  Lots of stairs here, as everyone builds up and not out.  We certainly get some exercise every day!