Bone Church in Czech Republic
by Janis Knight
Title
Bone Church in Czech Republic
Artist
Janis Knight
Medium
Photograph - Color Digital
Description
The Sedlec Ossuary, is a small Roman Chathoci chapel located beneath the cemetery Church of All Saints. Secleck a suberb of Kutna Hora. the ossuary may contain skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, whose bones have in many cases been artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel. The ossuary is among the most visited tourist attractions of the Czech Republic, attracting over 200,000 visitors annually.
In the mid 14th century, during the Black Death, and after the Hussite Wars in the early 15th century, many thousands were buried in the abbey cemetery, so it had to be greatly enlarged.
Around 1400, a Gothic church was built in the center of the cemetery with a vaulted upper level and a lower chapel to be used as an ossuary for the mass graves unearthed during construction, or simply slated for demolition to make room for new burials.
After 1511, the task of exhuming skeletons and stacking their bones in the chapel was given to a half-blind monk of the order.
Between 1703 and 1710, a new entrance was constructed to support the front wall, which was leaning outward, and the upper chapel was rebuilt. This work, in the Czech Baroque style, was designed by Jan Santini Aichel.
In 1870, Franti�ek Rint, a woodcarver, was employed by the Schwarzenberg family to put the bone heaps into order, yielding a macabre result.
Frankly, I couldn't view all these bones arranged into these decorations without a feeling of a bizarre, sinister twist. ancient people of power were, indeed, even more menacing, and life was much less regarded than in modern times.
This photo took second place in the "Bones" contest sponsored by Artapalooza in October 2017. Thanks!
Uploaded
July 31st, 2015
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Viewed 180 Times - Last Visitor from Saint Charles, IL on 02/15/2024 at 1:02 PM
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