Comment David Harry
Kutná Hora developed in the 13th century through silver mining to the richest, and after Prague, to the second largest city in Czech Republic.
More than 40,000 bodies were buried here in this cemetery.
But why?
In 1278 the abbot of the chapel travelled to Jerusalem and brought soil from Jesus' supposed crucifixion site and scattered it in the cemetery and made it a holy ground.
This supposed shortcut to Heaven's Gate triggers a real funeral tourism. People from all over the area, even from Bavaria, Poland and the Netherlands brought their deceased relatives here.
Old chronicles read that around 30,000 people were buried here during the great plague in 1318 alone.
In the 15th century, a two-story church was built on the cemetery. Most of the dead bodies were exhumed during construction and stored in the basement of the church building. Since then it has been used as an ossuary.
In 1784, Emperor Josef II started to dissolve the monasteries - also the monastery in Sedletz.
The Sedletz Ossarium, however, became this bizarre gem only after 1866 when the princely family von Schwarzenberg bought it and hired the Bohemian wood carver Frantisek Grind to redesign the interior.
Not Wood, but a huge amount of the bones were used to decorate the chapel.
The remaining bones, at least around 40 cubic meters, are buried in the ground of the cemetery.
None of the people buried here would have imagined that they would end up as part of the church’s interior decoration.
The ossuary is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Czech Republic

Voice over by David Harry

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