I took this photo inside Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic about a week ago. It's a detail from one of four corner pieces in the crypt-like room.
Sedlec Ossuary is beneath All Saints Chapel, built around the year 1400. The ossuary part dates from around 1511, when a half-blind monk was tasked with gathering up bones of the tens of thousands of townspeople who had died of The Black Death, and putting their bones into a crypt (so the place could free-up space in the ground to bury future "customers" of the church).
The monk completed the task, and it's estimated there are bones of 40,000 to 70,000 humans there. Around 1870 a local woodcarver, Frantisek Rint, was paid to create art from the bones, and that is what creates the real spectacle here.
Here's a link if you're interested in reading more: http://www.sedlecossuary.com/
Now that Halloween's officially over, I guess it's time to start looking around for snaps of early Christmas madness.
Sedlec Ossuary is beneath All Saints Chapel, built around the year 1400. The ossuary part dates from around 1511, when a half-blind monk was tasked with gathering up bones of the tens of thousands of townspeople who had died of The Black Death, and putting their bones into a crypt (so the place could free-up space in the ground to bury future "customers" of the church).
The monk completed the task, and it's estimated there are bones of 40,000 to 70,000 humans there. Around 1870 a local woodcarver, Frantisek Rint, was paid to create art from the bones, and that is what creates the real spectacle here.
Here's a link if you're interested in reading more: http://www.sedlecossuary.com/
Now that Halloween's officially over, I guess it's time to start looking around for snaps of early Christmas madness.
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