This “Bone Church” Decorates Itself With 40,000 Skeletons

April 21, 2020

This “Bone Church” Decorates Itself With 40,000 Skeletons

This church was one of the most popular places to get buried in Bohemia (modern-day Czechia).

The Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic is known as “The Bone Church.” That’s because once you enter, you’re greeted with thousands of human bones.

THE 40,000 TO 70,000 SKELETONS within Sedlec Ossuary (aka Kostnice Ossuary Beinhaus) in the Czech Republic welcome you, quite literally, with open arms.

This chandelier contains nearly every bone in the human body. The church features six enormous skull pyramids.

In the 13th century, the church scattered “holy soil” from Jerusalem on its cemetery. It became one of the most desired places to get buried in all of Bohemia. 30,000 people were buried there; until they ran out of room.

Sedlec Ossuary has a long history, beginning in the 13th century when the Abbot of the Sedlec Monastery (Abbot Henry) brought a handful of earth back from a journey to the Grave of the Lord in Jerusalem. He scattered this “holy soil” across the Sedlec cemetery, securing its place as one of the most desired burial sites for people all over Bohemia and the surrounding countries. Everyone wanted to be buried in that handful of the Holy Land and more than 30,000 were. But it wasn’t long before there simply wasn’t enough room for everyone to rest in peace, and the bodies were moved to a crypt to make room for the newly dead.

All the bodies had to be moved from the ground into a crypt. In 1870, a local wood carver was charged with a dark task. He bleached the thousands of bones from the crypt and arranged them around the church. He even left his signature in bones.