Bone Church

Fall 1998

SEDLEC, Czech Republic - A pinnacle of skulls stands in the ossuary in the chapel of the Church of All Saints graveyard, which was decorated in the last century with 40,000 human skeletons. The medieval plague epidemic saw thousands of people buried here, far too many for the graveyard to accommodate. Hence, the first attempt at doing something creative with the bones was in 1511, when a half-blind monk arranged them in pyramids. In the 19th century the remaining decorations were created, which include monstrances, pinnacles, chandeliers and urns.