Castle made of human bones. Temple of bones in Prague. Cost of tickets to the ossuary

An amazing and terrifying architectural monument, created specifically to remind us of death, is world famous under the name Kostnica, Czech Republic. Decorations, inscription letters, pyramids, a chandelier - everything here is made from a truly unusual material, from human bones. The Church of Bones contains the remains of 40,000 people.

This unusual church is located near the town of Kutna Hora, approximately 70 kilometers from the capital of the Czech Republic. Now it is a small town, but once, thanks to silver deposits, it was practically a second Prague and, moreover, the main financial center of the entire country. But Kutna Hora was not destined to either eclipse or even catch up with the capital. The reason for this was the plague and religious wars, and over time, depleted reserves of silver. I doubt that any of the predecessors could have imagined that Kutna Hora would become famous because the world-famous ossuary (ossuary) is located here. The Czech Republic, in turn, will become a place of pilgrimage for hundreds of tourists who want to see a cemetery in the shape of a church.

Its history dates back to 1278. Then the Polish king Otakar II sent the Abbot of Siedlce on a diplomatic mission to Jerusalem. Upon his return, the abbot scattered the brought earth (a small handful) over the monastery cemetery. This event gave the cemetery the title of Holy Land and, not surprisingly, increased the popularity of this place among noble families throughout the Czech Republic and surrounding countries. Accordingly, the cemetery grew rapidly. Soon it reached a size of four hectares. After some time, rumors began to circulate that martyrs and people who died in the name of faith were buried here.

In 1218, the plague spread throughout Europe, cemeteries could not accommodate the huge number of dead, so secondary burial was actively practiced, when old bones were put in chapels (they were called “ossuaries”), and in place of the old bones, the dead were buried again. The land in the cemetery was resold more than six times, and as a result, the remains of actually 40,000 people were collected on the site of the Sedlec Monastery ossuary. In 1511, a half-blind monk, having bleached all the bones, began to stack them into six pyramids. Each pyramid was 2-3 meters high. When the monk died, the pyramids were not destroyed, but the church made of bones was closed for 350 years.

In the 18th century, Prince Schwarzenberg, who was then the owner of the monastery land, ordered the creation of what people later called the “church of bones.” This unusual case was entrusted to the care of a local woodcarver, whose name was Frantisek Rint. He soaked the bones in bleach and gradually created his creations. One of the most unusual was a chandelier, where the master used absolutely all parts of the human skeleton - from the phalanx of the fingers to the coccygeal bones. In gratitude to his employer, Rint also made the Schwarzenberg coat of arms out of bones.

Often the Kostnica-Czech Republic route is chosen by gold-mining tourists. What is the reason? In the 16th century, monks found a treasure under one of the pyramids. It was never possible to find out its origin. It seems like it came out of nowhere. That is why the brothers attributed the discovery to divine intervention.

It is difficult to find a more striking and tragic work than a church made of bones. The Czech Republic annually welcomes thousands of guests from all over the world who want to see a unique creation of human hands. The ossuary in the Czech Republic is a kind of reminder of the frailty of all things and the coming apocalypse, the transience of human life and the day of judgment.

This church, completely unremarkable from the outside, is located near the town of Kutna Hora, approximately 70 kilometers from the capital of the Czech Republic.

From the inside, the hall is an amazing and at the same time shocking architectural monument in which all the main design elements are made of human bones. At the sight of this entire masterpiece, dual feelings begin to fill the soul. Aweful horror and vivid delight merge in a single dance of the most intimate emotions.

In 1218, a plague epidemic swept across Europe. When cemeteries could no longer accommodate such a huge number of dead, secondary burials began. Old bones were stored in chapel-ossuaries, and the dead were buried again in their original places.

The cemetery was resold several times, and as a result, the remains of more than 40,000 people were collected on the site of the Sedlec Monastery ossuary. In 1511, a half-blind monk, having bleached all the bones, began to stack them into six pyramids. Each pyramid was 2-3 meters high.

When the monk died, the pyramids were not destroyed, but the church of bones was closed for 350 years and tens of thousands of skulls, phalanges, ribs and hip joints were left waiting in the wings.

He soaked the bones in bleach and gradually created his creations. One of the most unusual was the chandelier, where the master used absolutely all parts of the human skeleton. In gratitude to his employer, Rint also made the Schwarzenberg coat of arms out of bones.

Human remains cannot be restored. In the 70s of the last century, they tried to strengthen the bones with cement, but then they considered this to be disrespectful to the memory of the dead. As a result, it was decided that the interior would be stored until it crumbled into dust - this is approximately another three centuries.

It is difficult to find a more striking and tragic work than a church made of bones. The Czech Republic annually welcomes thousands of guests from all over the world who want to see a unique creation of human hands. The ossuary is a kind of reminder of the coming apocalypse and death, which slowly follows each of us.

Video – Ossuary - creepy church

Restrained, well-trained Prague in style resembles a prim, excellent student. Not a single extra line and every brick in its place. The first week it delights, then it unnerves. So much so that even according to the domestic tradition of hanging billboards advertising chips on historical monuments, you begin to get bored.

But you can find a skeleton in everyone's closet. The Czech Republic decided not to limit itself to the wardrobe and assigned it to this business. It is there, in the Siedlce district, that the main ossuary of the country.

Come - you are always welcome here.

Every year 250,000 people come to see it. Will you dare to test your endurance?

Ossuary. Entrance to the territory.
The inscription is in four languages.

Are you ready to take selfies not in cafes and malls, but in a church made of bones? Then we declare preparations for the trip open!

The mosaic on the path suggests
that you have come to the right address.
Czech humor.

A little history (to nod understandingly to the guide, and not faint), the cost of entry, addresses of souvenir shops... Comparative characteristics of valerian and as an effective sedative and others nuances that are more pleasant to know BEFORE the excursion.

What do thousands of travelers come to see every year?

The ossuary in Kutna Hora is a very uniquely decorated church. To organize its interior decoration, it took 40,000 human skeletons.

At first glance, you won’t suspect anything: a small Church surrounded by a cemetery. Nothing remarkable.

You can even come here with children - but so what?

But once you step inside...

Hello - why did you come?

Bones on the ceiling and along the walls. A chandelier, columns, crosses, vases, coats of arms, cups are made from bones... The author of this gloomy structure even wrote his signature with bones.

The hall with the main exhibition is a semi-basement room.
We go down the stairs...

Chlorine-bleached skulls and shoulder blades, disinfected ribs and vertebrae, humeri and tibias... You can take an anatomy textbook with you and take a mini-inventory: you will find both os coccygis (from Latin - coccyx) and os sacrum (from Latin - sacrum) . You may not even know that each of us has so many bones.

Who thought of building something like this instead of sophisticated palaces? Why did they violate human remains? By the way, whose bones are these?!

Many, very many…

Victoria (37 years old, Vladimir):

“I didn’t want to go there, it’s not my format. But my husband insisted that it was a must see, and my son was also interested. I was frankly afraid that I would faint or something like that. In fact, pictures on the Internet are more frightening. And there, inside, you think about other things. It's not scary there, but very sad and calm. Children, especially the younger ones, don’t seem to feel anything at all: they run, scream, everyone is trying to steal or pick something... I didn’t faint, but I didn’t take pictures, and I don’t want to go back there again, although, I don’t regret that I visited.”

Human life, what are you?
Who is looking into your face?

It’s easy to tell a story, but it’s not easy to build an Ossuary

The history of the Ossuary (or ossuary: from the Latin “os” - bone) was started by the King of the Czech Republic, Otakar II. He sent one of the novices of the local monastery to Palestine. While at Golgotha, the monk took some sacred soil. He brought this earth to the Czech Republic and on a windy day scattered it over the cemetery, which after that also began to be considered sacred land.

Influential families of the Czech Republic and neighboring countries wished to bury their relatives in such a cemetery. The cemetery has become more in demand. But after the difficult year of 1318, when the plague was raging, there was no room left for new burials.

Enterprising Czechs got out gracefully. They removed all the old bones and built a cathedral and crypt for them nearby. And new dead people began to be buried in the cemetery. The trick was performed 6 times.

Now the cemetery looks like this.
Seventh shift...

During this time, 40,000 people found their last refuge in Sedlec. Some monk even built pyramids from all these phalanges, vertebrae and ribs.

But Frantisek Rint brought the church to its current form. He was invited by the Schwarzenbergs when these lands fell to them. Rint conceived and created the interior of the Ossuary. His main masterpiece is a chandelier in which every (!) bone of the human body was used.

The science of bones is osteology.
And this is an osteological chandelier.

In gratitude for the trust shown, Rint formed not only his initials, but also the Schwarzenberg coat of arms from the collarbones, shoulder blades, humerus, radius and ulna.

The Schwarzenbergs were not shy...

If you believe the legend, a visit to the Ossuary can bring a lot of money. To do this, you need to throw a coin in front of the altar. And if sometime in the future the person who performed such a ritual is in poverty, then fate will throw him sudden wealth.

Timofey (32 years old, Moscow):

"Amazing place! Who do you have to be to build something like this?! But it was worth the trip. You need to watch this once. You immediately think about different things that you usually don’t have time to remember. Everything is done beautifully, although creepy. Especially when you imagine that each bone belonged to some person who was like us: he lived, thought about something, dreamed about something... By the way, I didn’t feel any smell. I was more embarrassed by the perky selfies that other tourists took.”

Next to the cemetery there is a children's playground.
Ordinary. Not at all gothic.

How to get to the Ossuary without dying along the way?

The town of Kutná Hora is located 66 km from the Czech capital. The famous ossuary stands on its very outskirts, in the Siedlce district. This area is separated from the center by about 3-3.5 km.

There are two ways to get to bone deposits:

On one's own

An independent trip is suitable for those who:

doesn’t want to get up early and run to Wenceslas Square by 8:00;
knows how to drive, is ready to rent a car or get acquainted with Czech public transport alone;
is friendly with maps, navigators and is not afraid of getting lost on the road;
doesn't like to live according to a schedule and always wants to change the route because “Look, what a colorful building, let’s stop and take a photo!”

Price - from 220 CZK (price of train tickets from Prague to Kutna Hora and back).

Getting there from Prague is not difficult: you can rent a car, or you can take a nap for an hour on the bus or train “Prague - Kutná Hora”.

Traveling in a rented car is a normal option.
There are no problems with parking.

A bus ride will cost 68 CZK. We choose a bus.
A train ticket costs 110 CZK. Checking the schedule.

Do you want to plan your trip wisely? Would you go... . There you will find a number of tips: addresses of trusted restaurants, coordinates of interesting locations that you can visit along the way, etc.

With a group excursion

This voyage is an option for those who:

can't drive;
does not speak Czech or English;
wants to take a break from searching for attractions on the Internet;
wants to be sure that by dinner that day (!) there will be .

Cost: €27 per person. Duration: 8 hours.

Mikhail (21 years old, Volgograd):

“We decided to go to Kostnitsa without fail. When you go inside, you get such a strange feeling... It’s not scary, no. You just remember that no one is eternal. You feel some kind of respect for death, or something... I don’t know how to describe it. But there is something to think about, even when you have already left. As for the bones... Everything is done so carefully and precisely that it is quite possible to abstract from the fact that you are surrounded by human remains.”

Abstract yourself...
and all will be well.

Reconstruction, work schedule, prices and other org. questions

Cost of tickets to the ossuary:

Full (adults) - 90 CZK;
Preferential (for students, disabled people, children) - 60 CZK.

Opening hours:

On other days:

November - February: 9:00 - 16:00;
April - September: 8:00 - 18:00 (during this period on Sundays - from 9:00);
October, March: 9:00 - 17:00.

Now in Kostnice reconstruction is taking place. The church is surrounded by scaffolding: the roof is being repaired and the façade of the building is being refreshed. The renovation will last 5 years. All this time the ossuary in the Czech Republic was and will be open for visitors.

In July 2015, the church looked like this. To the side and behind there is scaffolding. Reconstruction.

Fables periodically appear on the Internet that the ossuary is closed, but this is incorrect information. The city is run by smart people. They are able to imagine how many losses Kutna Hora will suffer if its main asset ceases to function for 5 years. Therefore, management will not take such measures.

Still nervous and afraid to ride in vain? Information can always be checked on the official website, at a travel agency, or based on reviews from recently returned tourists.

Photography is allowed, but without flash.

Both beautiful and scary...
Take photos... reflect later.

Souvenirs

There is a gift shop in the Ossuary itself, near it and near the Cathedral of St. Barbarians.

Gift shop in the ossuary.
The most popular souvenir is a skull.

Here you can buy both standard souvenirs (magnets, T-shirts, etc.) and more specific ones (knight figurines, keychains, magnets, postcards, cups with skulls and crossbones, ceramics, etc.).

Another souvenir is a T-shirt for her and for him on an impromptu display.
350 Kč.

This...that, but can everyone go there?

Particularly impressionable people who faint at the word “poop” have nothing to do there. The rest will not have nightmares or phobias. No one will go there every year, but one visit for general development is quite bearable.

If you are a believer and are worried about how the church treats such places, then you should talk about it with your confessor. He will tell you about the morals of your denomination.

Rita felt somehow uncomfortable here.

In the past, the bones were buried according to all the rules, The church still holds services in memory of the dead. Anyone can light a candle. This is hardly an insult to the deceased.

But less than ten years had passed, Rita came here again - this time with the children.

Now your wallet and psyche are ready for anything. While other tourists ooh, aah and try to stay conscious, you can expertly count all the collarbones and sternums and take a couple of epic photos. And then you look, and you’ll be able to snatch the cutest skulls from the souvenir shop.

Early in the morning at the entrance toHotel Prokop A Skoda Fabia of a non-green color, unusual for Moscow, was waiting for us. Apparently it was the car of one of the family members of one of the hotel employees.

There was no car rental as such at the hotel, but there was, let’s say, additional income. But, as you understand, we didn’t care: we got the car, they got the money. This pleasure cost 700 CZK: we rented a car for a day, the rental itself cost 500 CZK and delivery to the hotel cost 200 CZK.

Having placed a PDA on the windshield visor and placed a GPS sensor on the dashboard, we plotted a route to Kutna Hora and drove off.

Kutná Hora is a small town 60 kilometers east of Prague, famous primarily for its nearby Kostnice v Sedlci. The city itself was founded in the first half of the 13th century and was the center of the silver mining industry, making the city the second richest in the Czech Kingdom.

In the center of the city rises the Cathedral of St. Barbara, the patroness of miners, the second largest and most important Gothic temple in the Czech Republic.

After wandering around the city for about an hour, we headed to Sedlec.

Ossuary in Sedlec (Kostnice v Sedlci)

The Cemetery Church of All Saints with its ossuary is a Gothic chapel in Sedlec, decorated with human skulls and bones.

Initially, the tomb was used as a warehouse for human remains brought here from the local cemetery, in the center of which it was built. Its purpose, so unusual at first glance, had a completely logical explanation.

In 1278, Abbot Henry brought a handful of Holy Land from Golgotha and scattered it across the cemetery. Thanks to this, the cemetery became very famous in Central Europe and soon could not accommodate all those who wanted it. In this regard, it was decided to remove the remains from the graves, making room for the next burials, and put them in the tomb.

The chapel took on its modern appearance only at the end of the 19th century, when the monastery lands were bought by the Schwarzenberg family. The new owners hired woodcarver František Rint to tidy up the pile of stacked bones. About 40,000 human skeletons were used to decorate the chapel.

The appearance of the chapel, as well as the whole story associated with it, is quite creepy. Shivering from her visit, we hurried to the car to quickly leave this place. Rain is coming.

Karlovy Vary (Czech. Karlovy Vary, German.

Karlovy Vary is a resort town about 150 kilometers west of Prague, famous for the presence of hot springs of mineral water with healing properties.

To get to it from Kutná Hora we first had to “return” to Prague, and then drive about 2 hours to the west. Near Prague, on top of everything else, we got into a small traffic jam caused by road repairs, so we arrived in Karlovy Vary after 3 days.

The rain did not let up, so our acquaintance with the city was very short. Having parked the car in the parking lot near the station, we began to get acquainted with the city in short runs.

The first point of acquaintance was the Jan Becher Museum. Having bought a couple of bottles of Becherovka, we moved on. Walking along Masaryka Street to the Osvobozeni embankment, we got completely wet and went to a restaurant for lunch. Having warmed up and eaten, I didn’t want to go back to the car at all. It was already dark outside and the rain continued to drizzle.

Having gathered our will into a fist, we finally tore our asses off from our homes, and, having stocked up on the “dark goat” in the supermarket along the way, we got to the car and set off on the way back to Prague.

On the outskirts of the Czech city of Kutna Hora is the town of Sedlec. And it is known primarily for the fact that it houses the Ossuary (ossuary).

In 1278, the abbot of the Cistercian monastery, Henry, brought some land from Golgotha. This earth was scattered throughout the abbey cemetery. Thanks to this, the abbey cemetery became a very popular burial place. In 1400, a cathedral was built in the center of the cemetery, which was supposed to serve as a warehouse for the bones of those previously buried, since the cemetery simply did not have enough space.

The Latin word for ossuary means a place to store remains. It comes from the word “ossis” - bone. So the Russian-language “ossuary” sounds quite justified. Ossuaries began to appear a very long time ago - remains were found in France that were more than six thousand years old.

There are several types of ossuaries and they differ in the way they store remains. For example, Jewish ossuaries involved storing the remains in a specially made box. The boxes were individual, and the dimensions of the box were determined by the dimensions of the bones of the deceased. Thus, the width of the box was equal to the width of the hip bone, the length corresponded to the length of the thigh, and the height corresponded to the total volume of the bones. By the way, moving the bones into these boxes was the second stage of the funeral. Before this, the body of the deceased was placed in a niche in a burial cave for a year - this was enough for the body to decay, and only bones remained of the deceased. The ritual of the Zoroastrians is somewhat similar. The bodies were also left there for a year, but they were not placed in caves, but, on the contrary, on a special hill away from the city.

There the bodies decayed, or (which was more often) they were gnawed by birds. Such a body, or rather the bones, were considered clean (and Zoroastrians are forbidden to bury bodies in the ground or fire) and could be placed in an ossuary. Towers specially built for this purpose acted in this capacity.

The ossuary in Sedlec belongs to the Catholic type (which is not surprising). Catholic ossuaries keep the bones open in crypts or chapels. This was often done in order to save space in cemeteries - there were many epidemics in the Middle Ages. The Sedlec Ossuary contains the remains of 40,000 people. However, it is very far from the largest - Paris, where the number of “buried” is about six million people.

In the 16th century, when the plague was raging in Europe, one monk, whose name has not been preserved by history, worked on yet another cleanup of the cemetery. Little is known about him at all. The only thing is that he was half-blind and was not afraid of the plague, since he had immunity. But he was a creator with his own sense of beauty. It was this feeling that made him bleach the bones in chlorine and lay out the pyramids in the corners of the room. He built stone crowns over the corner pyramids. After his death, and he died in the same ossuary, the chapel was closed. For three hundred and fifty years. Already at the end of the 19th century, when Prince Schwarzenberg bought this place, they decided to put the ossuary in order. The prince did not like the pyramids and hired woodcarver Frantisek Rint to tidy up the piles of bones. But what he accomplished can be seen here.

There is a plague pillar at the entrance to the cemetery.

Plague pillars were very common in Central Europe. They were installed as a sign of gratitude for the end of the pestilence. At the top of the pillar, as a rule, a statue of the Virgin Mary was installed. Although, of course, there are exceptions...

Cathedral - Ossuary.

A candelabra hangs in the center of the hall.

It contains all human bones.

Piles of bones. In total, there are about 40,000 human skeletons in the Ossuary. Crowns are visible above the bones.

Family coat of arms of the Schwarzenbergs - owners of the ossuary.

One of the most discussed and condemned attractions of the Czech Republic - the famous Ossuary of Kutna Hora - is awaiting a global reconstruction.

Fortunately or otherwise (depending on your attitude towards the ashes of the dead), the ossuary will continue to receive visitors during the renovation work.

The reconstruction will begin in July 2014 and will initially only affect the roof and rafters. It is expected that this stage of work will last approximately a year and a half and will require an investment of several million crowns.

The second stage of work will become more scrupulous. Restorers will “repair” the exhibits: all 40,000 bones will undergo a thorough inspection, research, and cleaning. Then each item will return to its usual place. Experts say that each of the four “pyramids” will take at least one year.

By the way, recently a curious incident occurred related to the Ossuary. Despite all the security measures, one of the visitors managed to remove the skull unnoticed. So, for some, remains, and for others, a souvenir. For the long memory.

Russian question

Well, a short digression on the burning topic: “Russian tourists and the Czech Republic.” Locals have already felt a decrease in tourist flow from the Eastern direction. According to the Association of Travel Agencies of the Czech Republic, hotel bookings decreased significantly in 2014 compared to the figures of two years ago. In terms of indicators, this was expressed as 8-22%.

The main reason is the devaluation of the ruble and the crisis expectations of Russians. The overt anti-Russian position of the leadership of the Czech Republic also affected the mood of tourists. To some extent, the annexation of the new region to Russia and active recreation in Crimea, hotly promoted in the media, could have had an impact. It might not have had any effect, however.

For reference: in 2013, 860 thousand Russians visited the Czech Republic. On average, everyone spent 4,000 crowns every day. Good money, although not as much as in the case of the Chinese.
Unlike Czech politicians, tour operators do not want to lose Russian tourists. If the ruble continues to fall, they are ready to put pressure on hotels, demanding lower prices.

Follow the press reports!..

Ossuary (Kostnice v Sedlci) is a church and ossuary in the Czech Republic, in the suburbs of Prague, the city of Kutná Hora (Sedlci). This place is famous for its unusual design - the walls and ceilings of the underground chapel are decorated with unusual figures and ornaments made from real human bones. In total, 50-60 thousand skeletons are involved in the interior.

It is impossible to meet anyone indifferent to this chapel. Some consider the composition in the basement of the Sedlec church blasphemous. Someone, no matter how much they want, cannot stay in this specific room for a long time. But there are those who are sure that such use of human bones is a true monument to immortality, a “second life” of the mortal human body.

Panorama inside the Sedlec Ossuary - Google Maps

History of the Ossuary in the Czech Republic

The first question that arises is: how did this happen? How did skulls end up on coats of arms and chandeliers? The answer to this question lies in the centuries-old history of these places and a series of fateful events of various scales.

The underground chapel of All Saints in Kutná Hora appeared in the 13th century, on the initiative of the Siedlce Cistercian Abbey. During her reign, a cemetery was opened, which for some time was no different from the usual burial grounds.

In 1278, the Czech king Ottokar II sent one of the abbots to Israel, and he returned with a small amount of land from Golgotha. It was scattered throughout the cemetery, making it the most popular not only among Catholics in the Czech Republic, but also among believers throughout Central Europe.

In the middle of the 13th century. Europe is engulfed by a plague epidemic that has claimed thousands of lives. This rapidly increased the number of burials near the chapel. Then the wars began, the number of deaths was frightening. By 1400, there were more than 40 thousand burials in the cemetery, sprinkled with Holy Land. The dead began to displace the living.

It was decided to make a two-level religious building instead of an underground chapel: a Gothic cathedral with an underground tomb was built in the cemetery - it was decided to store bones from old graves in it.

At the beginning of the 16th century. the tomb was monitored by a visually impaired monk of the same Cistercian order, who began sorting the bones by type. He laid the result of his work into 6 even pyramids.

At the end of the 18th century. Emperor Joseph II ordered the monastery to be abolished. The historical place, which was already about 500 years old at that time, was acquired by the famous family of princes and counts of Schwarzenberg.

The pile of bones in the basement did not bother the family, but she still wanted to put them in order. For this purpose, in 1870 they hired master Frantisek Rint, who specialized in wood carving. Rint gave free rein to his bold creative impulse and created an exhibition from human bones. His family helped him in his work: his wife and two children.

Mass media in the 20th century. did their job, and today the Ossuary and the Cathedral in Sedlec are one of the most popular tourist sites in Europe. About half a million visitors pass through it every year.

Features of architecture and interior

The Siedlce Cathedral itself is a mixture of architectural solutions: originally executed in a strict Gothic style, at the beginning of the 18th century. it was reconstructed and embellished in the Baroque spirit.

But let's focus on the basement tomb performed by Frantisek Rint. At the entrance you are greeted by pillars of skulls and two crossed shin bones, bone sculptures resembling huge goblets, and a decorative Catholic cross made of the same material. Inside, at the four corners, there are huge piles of bones, laid out in the shape of bells.

Particular attention is drawn to the huge bone candelabra hanging from the ceiling. It contains at least 1 copy of every element of the human skeleton. The base for the candles consists of the hip bones. Among other things, the candelabrum contains small figures of angels made from more common applied material.

There is an altar on the far wall. On the way to it there are 4 decorative altar monstrances; they are decorated with already familiar patterns: crossed bones and skulls. There you can observe another non-bone figure - the crucified Christ. Opposite there are candles, to which many coins have been thrown - some are left by those who believe in the sign: whoever throws a coin at the altar of the Ossuary will definitely find treasure.

The entire ceiling is hung with garlands of skulls; ceiling decorations made from shin bones are partially used. On one of the walls, the name of the author of the idea and the year of its implementation - 1870 - are laid out in bones.

Nearby is a huge bone family coat of arms of the Schwarzenbergs, which, with its diversity, allowed the artist to roam around. It is divided into several parts of varying levels of artistic complexity, but Rint managed to accurately recreate each of them.

Opening hours and ticket prices

Opening hours depend on the season:

October—March: Mon-Sun 9:00–17:00;
April—September: Mon-Sun 9:00–18:00;
The only day off of the year is December 24th.

As for the price of tickets, there are 3 programs on site, a preferential system and discounts have been introduced for groups. The preferential group of the population includes children, students, people with disabilities and pensioners.

Entry price to the crypt:

individually: adults 90 CZK (270 RUR); preferential: 60 CZK (180 rubles);
parents with children and groups of more than 8 people: adults 75 CZK (225 RUR); preferential: 50 CZK (150 RUR).

The TOP 3 program, which includes entrance to the crypt, passage to the Sedlec Cathedral and the Cathedral of St. Barbara (Chrám sv. Barbory), does not reduce prices for groups, but is offered at a favorable price:

adults: 220 CZK (660 RUR);
students and pensioners: 155 CZK (465 RUR);
children: 130 CZK (390 RUR).

If you were traveling by bus, then from the final bus stop you can get to the place by minibus. It is important that their itinerary includes Sedlec or Katedrála. If the route is not specialized, you will also have to walk about 15 minutes from the stop.

You can call a car, Yandex applications work. Taxi and Uber, and there is a Czech Russian-language service “My Taxi”. If you have the opportunity to travel in your own or a rented car, leave Prague along the E67 highway, then turn towards the town of Kolin, then follow road 38.

Video about Kostnice in the Czech Republic

Jan Svankmajer - Ossuary (1970)