PART 3: Kutna Hora - Czech R.
There are some very peculiar people here in the Czech Republic, more particularly in Kutna Hora.
This morning I visited an ancient Gothic chapel which was surrounded by a small cemetary and included within an ossuary (for those of you reaching for your dictionnary, let me save you the trouble; an ossuary is "The elegant way to say "bone-pit".")
But ladies and gentlemen, this was no ordinary ossuary! (Is there really such thing?)
My book tells me that "When holy earth from Golgotha (A hill outside ancient Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified) was scattered over the graveyard in the 12th century, all of Bohemia's nobility wanted to be buried there, and the bones mounted up until there were over 40,000 complete sets. In 1870, worried about the ever growing piles, the authorities commissioned Franktisek Rint to do something creative with them."
Upon entering the ossuary, I saw bells made out of bones... pyramids of bones (aesthecially, if you can say that in this case, arranged), a coat of arms, and for the grand finale...a chandelier made out of every single bone in the body (quite a few bodies though).
In Rome, I had visited a similar type of place called the "Capuccin Monks" and that is another interesting ossary altogether with lanterns and frozen theatrical scenes both made out of bones too.
Quite something else. Don't worry, I have taken pictures for those who are interested in seeing it for their own eyes!
One last note before I part...
While I've been enjoying reading your responses to my emails, please send your comments only to me and who can directly relate... otherwise I'll get blasted for filling people's mailboxes with email strings. Dakium ("Dee-ay-ku-eem"), thanks in Czech!
Tonight, I am off to BudaPest!
Na zdravi
