49°57′43″N 15°17′18″E / 49.96194°N 15.28833°E
The Sedlec Ossuary (Czech: Kostnice v Sedlci; German: Sedletz-Beinhaus) is a Roman Catholic chapel, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints (Czech: Hřbitovní kostel Všech Svatých), part of the former Sedlec Abbey in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. The ossuary is estimated to contain the 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.[1] The ossuary is among the most visited tourist attractions of the Czech Republic, drawing over 200,000 visitors annually.[2]
Four bell-shaped mounds occupy the corners of the chapel. A chandelier of bones, which contains at least one of every bone in the human body, hangs from the center of the nave with garlands of skulls draping the vault. Other works include piers and monstrances flanking the altar, a coat of arms of the House of Schwarzenberg, and the signature of František Rint, also executed in bone, on the wall near the entrance.[3]
- ^ Geographic, National (2008). Sacred Places of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Most Peaceful and Powerful Destinations. National Geographic Books. p. 339. ISBN 978-1-4262-0336-7.
- ^ NIPOS: Statistika kultury 2009 – I. díl – kulturní dědictví (muzea, galerie a památkové objekty)
- ^ Bicknell, Jeanette; Judkins, Jennifer; Korsmeyer, Carolyn (2019). Philosophical Perspectives on Ruins, Monuments, and Memorials. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-38063-8.