![]() ![]() The bones were used as a decoration and superimposed over the pre-existing structure of the Church made of bricks and stone. Rather, Rint used his artistic talents to create a masterpiece, which is now known as ‘The Church of Bones’. And that he did! Rint spent years assembling the bones, but not into near piles against the walls. In 1870, a local woodcarver, František Rint was employed for the dark task of putting the bone heaps into order. The chandelier made of bones in Sedlec Ossuary ( Pudelek / CC) A 19th Century Masterpiece Emerges In Sedlec, the bones of tens of thousands of people were moved into the safe storage of the crypt, which became known as Sedlec Ossuary. It wasn’t long before the cemetery was literally bursting at the seams. Added to this was the Hussite wars in the first quarter of the 15 th century, which led to thousands more deaths. The capacity of the cemetery was to become stretched even further when the Black Plague broke out in the 14 th century and thousands of citizens who succumbed to the disease needed to be promptly buried. ![]() This task was given to a half-blind monk who spent his time gathering bones and stacking them to make room for the new bodies coming into the cemetery.īursting With Bones After the Black Plague A body is first buried in a temporary grave and then after some years, the skeletal remains are placed in the crypt or ossuary. An ossuary is frequently used when burial space is scarce. A solution was needed to cope with the influx and so in 1511, an ossuary was built to store the skeletal remains. People all over Bohemia and Central Europe, particularly wealthy people, requested that they be buried in the holy cemetery, and many were. From then on, it became the most desired place to be buried in the region. When he returned from Jerusalem, he brought back a handful of earth from Golgotha and he scattered the ‘holy soil’ over the cemetery of Sedlec monastery. In 1278, King Otakar II of Bohemia sent the Abbot of Sedlec Monastery (Abbot Henry) on a diplomatic mission to the Holy Land. One of the tasks of the monks was the cultivation of the grounds around the monastery. The chapel has a long history, beginning in 1142 when a Cistercian monastery was founded in Sedlec. ( Pudelek / CC) Origins of the Bone Church But while some may find the bone church macabre or even grotesque, others see it as a poignant reflection of the belief that the body is merely a temporary vessel for the soul.Ī coat of arms made of bones in Sedlec Ossuary bone church. ![]() The eerie Sedlec Ossuary is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in the region, drawing in visitors who are both fascinated and unsettled by the somber displays. Decorated with the bones of over 40,000 souls, the small Roman Catholic chapel is adorned with bone chandeliers, candelabras crafted from femurs, and even family crests and monstrances. Deep beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in Sedlec, Czech Republic, a chilling monument to human mortality has been carefully crafted over the centuries. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |