The first church we visited was the Church of Saint Barbara. It sure looks like a cathedral, but it’s actually just a church that’s built like a cathedral. I say “just” a church, but in an area known for its gothic cathedrals, this particular church is actually a standout.
It’s sure big for a church, right?
The ornamentation inside these large religious structures always amazes me. The structures themselves are incredible, but then there are all the murals and statues, stained glass and carved wood, and painted ceilings. Very, very high ceilings at that.
Yep, it really was wood. This was the first large church/cathedral we’d seen with pieces like that made of wood instead of stone.
If you look closely, you can tell it’s wood.
It always takes longer than expected for us to see these huge religious buildings.
I have no idea what these things are called, the little statues sticking out that serve as outlets for water downspouts, but I was delighted to see the next one…
I’d seen some that sorta looked like a frog before, but none that were so clearly a frog.
There’s a nice view of the town from just outside of the church.
From there, we headed to the outskirts of Kutna Hora to see a VERY different kind of church, The Ossuary (bone church) at Sedlec. There IS a cathedral near the ossuary, but we had a long day on the road ahead of us, so we skipped it.
According to one CR tourism website…
Kutná Hora is known for the curious “Bone Church” or Ossuary (in Czech, Kostnice). It is located in the suburb of Sedlec. The Ossuary is in the undergroud chapel of the Church of All Saints. 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. They were originaly 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. In 1870, František Rint of Česká Skalice arranged the bones and skulls into creative decorations that include bells, the Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms, and a chandelier.
It was cool to see, but creepy. I mean, those are real bones of people.
It was an interesting place for sure!
On a lighter note…
Here’s a site with some history of the place for those of you who want the story.
And for those who want to see more pics, the Flickr slideshow is embedded below.
