SERIOUSLY - the MOST AMAZING Ossuary you will ever see.

[benburch]

http://www.kostnice.cz

http://www.kostnice.cz.nyud.net:8090/images/monstr.JPG

http://www.ludd.luth.se/~silver_p/kutna.html

http://www.ludd.luth.se.nyud.net:8090/~silver_p/Sedlec/front_kh.jpg

[Swede]

1. I'd never heard the term before.

Wow, 40,000 remains.

[benburch]

2. Bump for fine art!!!

[Atlas Mugged]

3. I've been there

It's utterly breathtaking and heart stopping. It's quite a bit of a drive East of Prague. When we got there we did the outside cemetery first and then went into what is essentially a basement for the Bone Church (which is how EVERYONE refers to it). At first we were all taken with the giggles by the macabre nature of it all, fully expecting the tour guide to speak in a Lugosian accent. Well, he did, sort of. But, when you start getting into the history of how it came to be, it completely takes over you as a truly horrific monument to war and plagues. We didn't giggle for long. The massive pyramids of bone at the four corners of the church are what really drove the whole point home. We had originally planned to have lunch after wards; none of us were hungry after the tour. Nonetheless, amazingly beautiful and a feast of mixed emotions. Sorry about that metaphor.

I've been to a few other bone ornamented crypts, but none are so artistically done as this one. A particularly unique feature in this display were some of the artistic editorials: the skeleton of a crow plucking at the empty eye socket of a skull with Turkish head gear.

One marvelous thing about Prague - it's Apricot country. Nearly everyone has an Apricot tree in their yard and, during season, Apricots dominate the menus; even savory dishes feature Apricots. The Apricot and pork dishes are particularly good.