Sedlec Ossuary

Sedlec Ossuary: 40,000 Skeletons and One Very Prolific Woodcarver

The Sedlec Ossuary sits below the Church of All Saints in Kutna Hora, about 80 kilometres southeast of Prague, and it contains the arranged bones of approximately 40,000 people. That number is not a dramatic rounding-up; it reflects centuries of exhumation from the surrounding cemetery, driven by the brutal practicality of plague victims needing space. What makes the site remarkable is not merely the bones but what was done with them: in the 1870s, the Schwarzenberg family hired a woodcarver named Frantisek Rint to tidy up the ossuary and arrange its contents decoratively. Rint took this brief very seriously, and possibly too literally.

How It Came to Be

The story begins in 1278 when an abbot named Henry returned from a diplomatic mission to Jerusalem carrying soil from Golgotha. He scattered it over the cemetery, and word spread that burial at Sedlec offered a shortcut through purgatory. Demand for plots exploded. The Black Death of the 14th century and then the Hussite Wars of the 15th century filled the cemetery far beyond capacity. By the early 15th century, a chapel had been built with a crypt below, and the exhumed bones were stacked there in rough piles.

Rint turned those piles into a chandelier, four large bone pyramids, two monstrances, and a coat of arms belonging to the Schwarzenberg family, the latter rendered in skull-and-pelvis relief with a raven picking at the eye socket of a severed skull. He also signed his work in bones at the entrance, which shows either remarkable self-confidence or a very dark sense of humour, possibly both.

Visiting

Address: Zamecka 127, 284 03 Sedlec, Czech Republic. The ossuary is in the Sedlec suburb of Kutna Hora, a 20-minute walk or a short taxi ride from Kutna Hora train station.

Hours: Open daily, typically 9am to 5pm (extended in summer to 6pm, reduced in winter to 4pm). Check the official site for current hours, as they shift seasonally and close for some Czech public holidays.

Admission: Around 120 CZK for adults; combined tickets with the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec and other Kutna Hora sites are available and represent good value.

Photography: Permitted, but this is a consecrated Catholic site with active religious significance. The bones are human remains. Treat the space accordingly.

Crowds: This is a genuinely popular attraction. Arrive at opening (9am) or after 3pm to avoid the main tour group push. July and August are the worst for crowds. A weekday in October is arguably the ideal visit.

The ossuary itself takes about 30-40 minutes to see. The space is small; you are in and out quickly. Do not rush the cathedral upstairs, which is a beautifully restored Baroque structure with different but complementary atmosphere.

Kutna Hora Beyond the Bones

Kutna Hora is a UNESCO World Heritage town and deserves several hours even if the ossuary were not there.

St. Barbara’s Church is the dominant sight in the upper town, a Gothic cathedral built with silver-mining wealth between 1388 and 1905, its construction repeatedly interrupted by plague, war, and financial collapse. The three tent-like spires are visible from a distance. The interior contains frescoes depicting medieval mining work, which is unusual for a Gothic church interior and tells you something about what silver meant to this town.

The Italian Court (Vlassky dvur) was the royal mint, where the Prague Groschen, a silver coin that circulated across medieval Europe, was struck. The building is open for tours and has a decent museum covering Bohemian monetary history.

The town centre has cobbled lanes, a reasonable concentration of cafes and restaurants, and considerably less tourist infrastructure than Prague. Lunch here costs roughly half what it does across the river in the capital.

Where to Eat

Restaurace u Kamenneho domu near the main square serves solid Czech food (svickova, goulash, svickova on bread dumplings) at prices that feel like 2015 even now. No frills, reliable.

Cajovna Dhow is a teahouse with a slightly unusual atmosphere for Bohemia (North African decor, excellent tea selection) that gets genuinely full in the afternoon. Good for a break between sights.

Where to Stay

Hotel u Vlaskeho dvora is centrally located, well-maintained, and reasonably priced. Most visitors to Kutna Hora do it as a day trip from Prague, but an overnight gives you the town after the day-trippers leave, which is considerably more pleasant.

Getting There

Direct trains from Prague Hlavni nadrazi (main station) to Kutna Hora run roughly hourly and take just over an hour. The train stops at both Kutna Hora Sedlec (for the ossuary, a short walk) and Kutna Hora Hlavni nadrazi (for the town centre). Buy your ticket at Prague main station or on the Czech Railways app; no seat reservation needed.