BONY CHURCH

 

Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, and how about 70 kilometres east

 the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague, lies a small town called Sedlec.

 

It might have been an ordinary enough town, if not for its extraordinary

church. The inside of this church is decorated with artworks made of human bones.

 

The story begins in 1218, when a certain Abbot Henry made a pilgrimage to

the holy land and brought back a jar full of soil, which he spread over

the Church's cemetery. As a result the cemetery came to be regarded as

sacred and turned into a popular burial spot.

 

By 1318, more than 30,000 bodies were buried there and by 1511, it had

become necessary to remove the older bones to make place for the new ones.

 

These later became the material for the macabre creations.

 

In 1870 a local woodcarver was hired by the Duke of Shwartzenberg to

decorate the inside of the church with the human remains

(approximately 40,000 sets of bones).