For our last day in Prague, we decided to take a side trip to Kutna Hora a town about an hour outside of the city center. Kutna Hora is famous for its Bone Church or, as it is formally called, the Sedlec Ossuary. I had wanted to make the trip to this little town while I was studying in Prague but never quite made it (we went to the spa town Karlovy Vary instead--yay spas!), so when I offered the option to Eric and Carissa I was excited that they were interested. So off to the Bone Church we went!
These are actually photos from the night before but I hand;t uploaded them yet when I posted the last post. The Charles Bridge at night, Cocaine vodka which I hope doesn't actually have cocaine in it..., and cute kitties on a pack of cookies! Who doesn't want to buy cookies that have animals this adorable on it?
But any who, the morning started with a walk to the train station, which was a good gauge of whether or not we wanted to do it the following morning for our train to Munich. We had an underwhelming breakfast of sandwiches and pizza at the train station, but it was nourishment none the less. And after an hour on the train, we were there!
The first picture is actually the tower of the church that the Ossuary belongs to, it has a really long name that I don't really want to type out but its something like the Cathedral to Our Lady and John the Baptist. We thought about going in but when you get a glimpse inside, it looked pretty simple so we decided no. So we walked past to get to the main attraction, the Sedlec Ossuary.
The story goes that in the Middle Ages, some priest was sent to the Holy Land and came back with some holy dirt and put it in the yard of the Ossuary. When people found out, they were all clamoring to be buried on what was now, by extension, also holy land. It was said that those who were buried here would have a swift ascension to Heaven as opposed to a lingering existence. So all the people now want to be buried here which means lots of bones and little organization. Enter some Czech guy in the 1870s who is assigned the task of organizing the bones. And viola! Now you have the Sedlec Ossuary or the Bone Church.
Literally all of the decoration is bones. All of it. And this tower of bones is hollow but only just barely. Think of the number of people who have their bones here. We were told it's at least 40,000 people.
The chandelier is the grand masterpiece. The connection to the ceiling is made of human jaw bones and then we have some skulls and vertebrae and femurs and all the bones!
Okay, so maybe there were a couple things that weren't bones, but you can't make a painting of bones so I guess there are exceptions to every rule.
Close up of the chandelier which I think uses every bone in the human body at least once, and then the shield of the family that owned Kutna Hora (I think...?).
I know you want to get up close and personal to the bones, so there you go. And then we have the signature, in bones of course, of the man who organize the bones so prettily. And a view from the stairs down into the Ossuary.
Cross with bones! Then some views of Kutna Hora and the Cathedral of Saint Barbara.
The Cathedral of Saint Barbara is actually a UNESCO heritage site, and a cool little cathedral. As you can see in the second photo, there are coat of arms of the many different people represented in the town and those who helped with the construction of the church. The church was built in either the 1400s or 1500s--I can't remember which. But it;s old.
I always love the criss-crossing of the vaulted ceilings. And some stained glass.
All in all, it was a pretty beautiful church.
The altar piece and then Eric as we make our way back to the train station.
Once we made it back to Prague, we walked to Old Town to get some dinner. We ended up settling on this Thai restaurant near Templova street, which when Carissa mentioned, I was like I KNOW IT! (imagine this in the Will Ferrell Elf voice). The food was actually pretty good, I enjoyed my pad thai very much. And it made it much easier for me to find my old street (not that its exactly difficult to find it either) and my old apartment :)
Chapeau Rouge! This place is where we spent many a night since it was about a block from out apartment and there was always something interesting happening there. And the interesting thing was the people that showed up--talk about some good people watching. The second picture is the door to our building, Dlouha 20. Although, I am sad to say that Coffee Fellows is no longer the cafe below our apartment, its now Follow Me (which I think is an odd name), but we have found that Coffee Fellows exists elsewhere! Like in Germany. And then lastly, the street sign for dear Dlouha--which might be one of the best streets in Prague (after Karlova of course).
We even made a visit to the Bake Shop that is a few meters away and got some sweets and coffee. It was as delicious as I remember!
This girl however was new... a new "decoration" on Dlouha. Modern art I suppose?
But anyway, so ends our time in Prague. I am so so so so glad that I made it back here. This city will always have a special place in my heart and I hope to return again and again and again. So if anyone ever wants to go to Prague, you let me know because I'll be your tour guide!
On to Munich!
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