JOURNEY TO THE AMAZING CHURCH OF BONES - CZECH REPUBLIC

The famously exquisite "Church of Bones" is found in Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic.
The Ossuary with the bones is located in the underground chapel of the "Church of All Saints "in the "Sedlec Monastery". Cathedral of the Assumptions and the Church of All Saints with the Ossuary was rebuilt in Baroque Gothic Style in the early 18th century by Jan Blazej Santini- Aichel
.
Santini is also considered the author of the basic concepts of skeletal decorations according to the principles of Baroque style and aesthetics. There are liturgical symbols of cups and montrances in he niches, garlands of bones remind Baroque angellic heads, the pin acles-shaped candle holders from 1742 symbolize the eternal light.
It contains the bones of about 40,000 people who died of the plague in 1318 and during the Hussite wars in the 15th century. These people were originally buried at the church cemetery. When the cemetery was closed at the end of the 15th century, the exhumed bones were transferred to the chapel and compiled into pyramids.
The largest collections of bones are arranged in the form of bells in the four corners of the chapel. The most interesting creations are the chandelier in the center of the nave, containing all the bones of the human body, and the coat-of-arms of the Schwarzenberg noble family on the left-hand side of the chapel.
The Sedlec Monastery was abolished in 1783. The property of the abbey was purchased by the Schwarzenberg family from Orlik. Thanks to their patronage the Sedlec Ossuary was maintained. The Baroque bone decoration was renewed and extended by Frantisek Rint from Ceska Skalice in 1870. The bones used by Rint were disinfected and bleached with chlorinated lime and place in original patterns - the chandelier in the middle of the chapel and a coat of arms of the Schwarzenbergs. There is a Rint's signature made of bones at the bottom of the staircase.

The House of Schwarzenberg was the owner of the land where the church was built who in 1870 hired the artist František Rint of Česká Skalice, considered the original author of this exceptional arrangement of human remains.
MEMENTO MORI - "Remeber the death" - associated with the Christian Hope of Ressurection remains a valid message for each visitor of this unique place and helps us to understand the symbolism of the place and its decoration. It is not a celebration of death, but it symbolizes the equality of people in front of the throne of God.
The Crucified Christ (Calvary) on the high altar with east window backlight is an expression of the Hope, the wooden carved crowns on the tops of the bone-pyramids represent the Jesus Christ's Triumph.
Check wikipedia.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_...