František Rint signed his name in bones on the wall near the entrance, using human remains as his medium.
The giant chandelier in the center of the nave is constructed using at least one of every bone in the human body.
The soil inside the cemetery was sprinkled with earth from Golgotha, leading many medieval Europeans to request burial there.
The Schwarzenberg coat of arms depicted in bones includes a raven pecking at a severed head, symbolizing a victory over the Ottoman Turks.
In 2014, researchers discovered that some of the bones in the mounds were arranged to create specific patterns representing mortality rather than being mere storage.
The remains were exhumed during the 15th-century construction of the Gothic church and subsequently stacked in the basement.
The ossuary underwent a multi-year restoration project that began in 2014 to stabilize and clean the bone structures.
The skulls used in the decoration are positioned in a way that suggests a hierarchy of death, reflecting the egalitarian nature of the afterlife.
The Sedlec Ossuary is a small Roman Catholic chapel located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in Kutná Hora. It contains the remains of approximately 40,000 to 70,000 individuals whose skeletons have been artistically arranged to decorate the interior. The site originated after 1278, when a local abbot returned from the Holy Land with soil from Golgotha, making the cemetery a highly sought-after burial site in Central Europe. Following the plague epidemics and the Hussite Wars in the 14th and 15th centuries, the bone collection grew significantly. In 1870, the Schwarzenberg family commissioned local woodcarver František Rint to organize the piles of skeletal remains into their current display. The inventory includes four large corner bell-shaped mounds and a massive chandelier composed of at least one of every bone in the human body. The site is a subterranean chapel and an active ossuary within the Sedlec monastery complex. It serves as both a tourist site and a consecrated space for reflection on human mortality.
The central nave looking up at the large bone-constructed chandelier.
Bring a light jacket as the underground environment remains cool year-round.
Purchase a combined entry ticket if you also plan to visit the nearby Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady.
Visit early or late in the day to avoid the heaviest concentration of tour groups.
Avoid touching the ossuaries or attempting to move bones, as this is disrespectful and prohibited.
Closed on December 24th; operating hours are reduced during the winter season.
Maintain silence; photography is permitted but touching the bone displays is strictly prohibited.
