12/21/2005: Church with ornamental human bones

The Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic, is a small Christian chapel. Looks quite ordinary...



Except that the interior is entirely decorated with human bones.



Chandelier.



Coat-of-arms detail.

It's all from this fansite for the chapel which details the whole thing, including the fact that the raw material for it included "40,000 sets of human bones".

How do you say "Creepy" in Czech?

Utterly cool!

All those churches worrying about running out of graveyard space? Hint, hint...

Brianna wrote:

How do you say "Creepy" in Czech?

creepy feeling - mravenčení

or something...not sure just started learning but that's what my dictionary says

Anyway, I can't wait to visit this place next week.

Happy Monkey wrote:

All those churches worrying about running out of graveyard space? Hint, hint...

You joke, but honestly, thats part of the reason why the bones were used in the first place.

I took a class my senior year entitled History of Death in America, and among other things, we talked about this church (or another one like it, not sure if it was exactly this one) and the ideas about death surrounding it.

As expected, most people found it rather creepy and macabre, but obviously, it being a Christian church, it wasn't viewed as creepy around the time it was being used.

Our teacher told us that it used to be that when you died you were buried within the church grounds. Unfortunately, with people dying every day, and church lands not exactly getting any bigger, the places tended to fill up. Thus, some churches (i.e. this one) decided to make use of all the human remains.

And there you have it. As to the evolution of attitudes towards death, and how much things have changed, and the reasoning behind it all....well, it was a semester long class, so I don't think we have time for it here.

- Sam

Also, if you search on google you can find lots of other churches and chapels with similar decorating tastes. Just search for "capuchin church bones"

<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hs=NpY&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=capuchin+church+bones&btnG=Search"> Google Search</a>

That's the power of the IotD... I've never heard of this item before, but if I post it, a lurker will arrive within a half-hour to explain the whole thing.

(That's another way of saying, welcome Sam! Thanks.)

I would love to see that. Very cool.

Welcome to the Cellar, Samael.

I won't make any bones about it , but that is where the whole ball of wax is rolling.
Soon people will have to start buying land in desolate or geographically substandard ares to bury their dead. No more family plots. An error in planning.
Cremation has edged up in society from an alternative, and will most likely leap to the norm shortly.
Our entire species is getting lazier and lazier. Most people these days would prefer having ashes handy as opposed to a trip to the cemetary.
Anyway the bones in these images are creepy to me but they are placed with an artistic aire. I would like to visit and see this firsthand. The way the bones are integrated with metals and other material within theme is way cool to me (in the first page of UT's link).
Seems like there would be a lot of legal tape to wade through to display one's bones in public. The creepy side keeps creeping up on me.

What I wouldn't give to visit this place and carry along a pair of xylophone mallets.

Unfortunately, with people dying every day, and church lands not exactly getting any bigger, the places tended to fill up. Thus, some churches (i.e. this one) decided to make use of all the human remains.

The poor and disenfranchised had to be disposed of, too. 7 million, under Paris. :skull:

I hope that they build their Christmastime Nativity out of bones, too...

Wow, Iv'e heard of churches that are popular but this is surely one that people are just dying to get in to! :p

La Danse Macabre performed daily.

capnhowdy wrote:

Our entire species is getting lazier and lazier. Most people these days would prefer having ashes handy as opposed to a trip to the cemetary.

That's strange, I don't consider it laziness at all. I think cremation is a lot smarter--I mean, how retarded is it to spend thousands on elaborate coffins and take up acres and acres of land for rotting flesh? If it's not possible to donate every single organ and body part I have by the time I die, then I want to be cremated. And I don't want my family feeling obligated to mourn forever over my ashes, either.

Exactumundo !!!
Use what parts you can and cremate the rest !!!
Hold a small party/memorial service on a certin river ,
pop a beer and float my ashes down river in a good straw hat set on fire ,
ashes to ashes dust to dust , may your ashes enrich the earth you came from .

Our house is located in the Elverson Historic District (#25 on the architectural inventory). A couple generations of Mengel's lived here throughout the 18 and 1900's (scroll down).
Anyway, A few weeks ago I was getting packed for vacation the next morning, wearing sweats and a flannel... and also getting ready for an xmas party that night, so I'd had my hair put up earlier that day and was in a major rush. Someone knocked at the the door and I'm muttering to myself that they're gonna think I'm a nutcase when I answer. I open the door and two ladies greet me and apologize, because I'm gonna think they're nuts, but their father had recently died and they were just at his funeral service. Apparently one of his dying wishes was to be cremated, and to have his ashes spread in the yard of his family home, now my family home.
So they had a little service out in the yard and spread the old guy about my forsythia and cherry trees. :skull:

Clodfobble wrote:

That's strange, I don't consider it laziness at all. I think cremation is a lot smarter--I mean, how retarded is it to spend thousands on elaborate coffins and take up acres and acres of land for rotting flesh? If it's not possible to donate every single organ and body part I have by the time I die, then I want to be cremated. And I don't want my family feeling obligated to mourn forever over my ashes, either.

Point taken. Maybe I should have worded that differently, as reading back on my post it does seem a little harsh.
Makes no difference anyway. The near future generations will be cremated by default due to lack of resources. I agree with you on the fact that it is a waste of money and property to bury the dead, but somehow it just seems more respectful. The more I think about it the less strongly I feel that way tho.....The way of the future.

We discussed the Sedlec Ossuary before.

I think I can go to bed now that I finally scratched that itch at the back of my brain.

Clodfobble wrote:

That's strange, I don't consider it laziness at all. I think cremation is a lot smarter--I mean, how retarded is it to spend thousands on elaborate coffins and take up acres and acres of land for rotting flesh? ....

Here in Ohio, even if you choose to be cremated, you still have to buy the casket. Then they either burn the casket with you or they clean it up and sell it to the next family. Not really sure. What I am sure of is that the law is directly a result of funeral directors losing revenue from people deciding to be cremated instead of being buried.

Cardboard with vinyl woodgrain for me please.

Ohio has just been added to my shit list. :rar:

As Woody Allen once said, scatter my ashes to the four winds... and get back the deposit on the urn.

smithgr wrote:

Here in Ohio, even if you choose to be cremated, you still have to buy the casket. Then they either burn the casket with you or they clean it up and sell it to the next family. Not really sure. What I am sure of is that the law is directly a result of funeral directors losing revenue from people deciding to be cremated instead of being buried.

According to Federal law, the coffin must be burned with the body.
It is illegal to resell a coffin.
Biohazard contaminants, and ... other material ... may have been deposited in the coffin, making it unsafe.
There are people who don't concern themselves with following the law, however...

Crimson Ghost wrote:

According to Federal law, the coffin must be burned with the body.
It is illegal to resell a coffin.
Biohazard contaminants, and ... other material ... may have been deposited in the coffin, making it unsafe.
There are people who don't concern themselves with following the law, however...

Making it unsafe for who? We sure as hell wouldn't want a corpse exposed to a biohazard. :headshake

For the funeral home employees.

When we were choosing a coffin for my Dad, we saw the heavy duty cardboard boxes and a beautiful knotty pine coffin that was put together with no metal. Well fitted joints with glue and dowels and if required they could add handles that would be removed before burning. It was pricey but a hell of a lot cheaper than a complete Viking ship. ;)

I don't think my mom will let me burn her. She's a burier. There's an outside chance she'd be an eater, but well, I honestly think she'll end up being too tough.