Under the Cemetery Church of All Saints at Sedlec, near Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic, the bones of thousands of people are arranged into pyramids, garlands, a chandelier and a coat of arms. It is one of Europe’s most visited ossuaries.
This page collects what we have published on Sedlec. Its own guide is frank that very little is known about the people buried there, or about who made most of the decoration and when.
Key facts
| Where | Sedlec, Kutná Hora, Czech Republic |
|---|---|
| Church | Gothic, two storeys, first half of the 14th century, on the grounds of a Cistercian monastery |
| Remains | “Thousands of people” (official site); higher figures are estimates |
| Best-known work | Schwarzenberg coat of arms by František Rint, around 1870 |
| Today | Under reconstruction since 2014; open to visitors |
Episodes and articles
Shorts about this case will be listed here when they are published.
Documented / Disputed
- Documented: Dating of the church and of Rint’s coat of arms (official Sedlec site).
- Disputed: Skeleton counts such as 40,000 to 70,000.
- Disputed: The story of a half-blind monk stacking the bones in 1511.
Further reading
- Sedlec Ossuary, official site. sedlec.info.
Series: Death Customs. All case pages: Case pages index. How we work: Editorial Standards.
