Growing up a grave diggers daughter, I have always enjoyed the peace of a cemetery. And death has never been something to fear.
To me it’s just the next step in our time on earth.
We are born into this world and we should take from it only what we need to survive. And when our time has ended our bodies return to the earth giving back all the nutrients we took, helping the ground to grow what the next generation needs to survive.
It is a circle that encompasses all flora and fauna of the earth.
There is something about the beauty in that cycle that draws me to the maccarb.
When I found out we were so close to Kutná Hora how could I miss the opportunity to visit Sedlec Ossuary?
It has been on my bucket list for a very long time.
The churchyard is filled with family crypts surrounded by a wall topped with skulls.
Entering the church you would not realise what was held within.
As you walk down a grand staircase the first thing you notice are the people in front coming to a standing stop and their eyes widen to the unusual works of art. Following their stares, I get my first glimpse of the many thousands of bones that decorate both ceiling, floors and walls of the church.
A cross has been fashioned from femurs. The centre marks a date written with the small bones that make up your hands and feet.
I’m used to seeing sconces of delicate leaves and flowers in old manors, but the ones in front of my eyes are crafted from rib bones, ulna and radius, with skulls replacing the focal point in each swag.
At the bottom of the stairs the church is divided into 4 quarters. 3 contain caged off pyres of layered skulls and bones. The 4th quarter holds timber for the renovation works that are taking place.
In the centre is a giant chandelier. Each segment is made up of the pelvis, with full rack of ribs topped with a skull. I immediately think back to the hull of the ship in The Goonies.
To the left where the private chapel would be an intricate Cote of arms spans almost 2 meters wide.
The cleverness of creating patterns out of every left over bone is almost genius.
In glass cabinets, they have displayed a number of skulls depicting the tragic way their owners died. Some showed wounds from arrows, some showed hammer blows, and one cleaved clean in half.
I wonder what these people would have made of their bones being left on display and our obsession with all things death-related ?